Advanced mobile devices and network supporting same

ABSTRACT

A method performed by a wireless device having a plurality of MAC addresses may comprise receiving a first group based transmission, on an operating band of a first AP, wherein the first group based transmission has a preamble portion which indicates a modulation scheme used for a portion subsequent to the preamble portion. The first group based transmission may have a first data portion and a first header portion. A second group based transmission may be received on an operating band of a second AP. The second group based transmission may have a second data portion. The second data portion may be modulated according to QAM and may include a second header portion. The wireless device may determine whether the first group based transmission comprises data which is duplicative of the second group based transmission.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/001,064, filed Aug. 24, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/983,622 filed on Feb. 29, 2020 andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/891,162 filed on Aug. 23,2019, which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth.

SUMMARY

A method performed by a wireless device having a plurality of mediaaccess control (MAC) addresses may comprise receiving a first groupbased transmission, on an operating band of a first access point (AP),wherein the first group based transmission has a preamble portion whichindicates a modulation scheme used for a portion subsequent to thepreamble portion. The first group based transmission may have a firstdata portion and a first header portion. A second group basedtransmission may be received on an operating band of a second AP. Thesecond group based transmission may have a second data portion. Thesecond data portion may be modulated according to quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) and may include a second header portion. The wirelessdevice may determine whether the first group based transmissioncomprises data which is duplicative of the second group basedtransmission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is an example communication diagram of an access point (AP) andone or more stations (STAs);

FIG. 2 is a timing diagram which illustrates push based wake upmessaging methods which may be sidelink based;

FIG. 3 illustrates a scenario in which a single content origin server isserving content to three different devices via three different contentdistribution network (CDN) providers;

FIG. 4 illustrates a coordination diagram which illustrates examplecoordination transmissions;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cascade transmit diagram;

FIG. 6 illustrates artificial intelligence (AI) techniques which may beemployed to observe a state representation or observationrepresentation;

FIG. 7 illustrates that request to send (RTS)/clear to send (CTS) framesmay specify a duration including the CTS, trigger,uplink/directlink/downlink data unit(s), acknowledgements (ACKs) andshort interframe spacings (SIFs);

FIG. 8(a) illustrates a timing diagram for receiving a random accesschannel (RACH) occasion bitmap;

FIG. 8(b) is a flowchart for providing information to a user equipment(UE);

FIG. 9 demonstrates that a portion of each universal signal (U-SIG)field transmitting in a plurality of frames may be buffered to form alarger data block;

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart for group transmission;

FIG. 11 illustrates a frame having one or more encrypted address fieldsin a medium access control (MAC) header;

FIG. 12 illustrates a plurality of network allocation vector (NAV)setting examples.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary method for resource allocation;

FIG. 14 illustrates a two-step RACH procedure which provides informationover a Data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) typebackhaul;

FIG. 15 shows that Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting(ATSSS) rules from the network may be configured to a UE and ATSSS userplane function (UPF); and

FIG. 16 shows that ATSSS rules from the network may be configured to aUE and an multipath transmission control protocol (TCP) (MPTCP) proxy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

In an embodiment, millimeter wave (mmWave) bands may be shared amongmultiple radio access technologies (RATs). Advanced mobile devices mayoperate in high frequency bands, for example, bands over 30, 40 or 50ghz (mmWave) bands and up to 70, 80, 90, 100 ghz and above. Highfrequency bands may be licensed bands and unlicensed bands. Inunlicensed bands, it is important for devices to perform sensing andoccupancy detection before transmission. However, at high frequencies,it may be difficult for STAs to determine whether or not a channel,band, frequency or the like is available or is occupied. Apparatus andmethods disclosed herein address embodiments where mobile devices shareaccess to spectrum.

mmWave sensing may be coordinated among STAs. In some embodiments, STAsmay need only sense a portion, for example, a frequency, time or spatialresource before transmitting or requesting to transmit. Sensing mayemploy detection of a Energy Detection Threshold (EDT) which may varyover the portion. Sensing may be performed for determining channeloccupancy, group formation among other aspects. Sensing may be performedon bands which have higher subcarrier spacing (SCS) than that of 5G.

Coordination may be among APs, among STAs or coordinated among STAs andAPs. STAs may be jointly in communication with APs and/or STAs on samefrequency resources and thus may need to coordinate joint transmissionaspects. For example, devices may negotiate a density of phase trackingreference signals (PT-RS) from which transmitters to transmit andmonitor. PT-RS density may be determined based on channel occupancy,success/failure of previous sensing results, modulation type,transmission format including subcarrier spacing bandwidth etc. PT-RSdensity may be determined based on QoS of data for transmission orhigher layer parameters. Other parameters of the PT-RS may benegotiated, for example a transmission power, angle (beam) or the like.

Coordination may be based on capability, for example, device capabilitybeing a sensor, wearable surveillance, low/high power device, or thelike or coordination may be based on release version. Coordination mayinvolve coordination of the bands, subbands, subchannels, time/frequencyresources, space resources and the like. Coordination may be achievedbased on transmitting parameters for sensing by a STA or AP. In anembodiment, an AP may maintain a list of parameters for sensing and mayprovide them to STAs.

Coordination aspects may be shared on lower frequency bands than higherfrequency bands. In an embodiment, lower frequency bands may be used forexchanging information between devices to determine a proximity of oneanother. Proximity information may be fed back to transmitters todetermine whether a hidden node problem exists. With proximityinformation, two transmitters which are remote, may be able tocoordinate transmissions to two receivers which are nearby. Proximityinformation may be shared/determined using the lower frequencies andreported to the transmitters via high frequency transmissions. This isable to occur, because the hidden node issue may not apply to thetransmissions of the conflicting receivers.

In a dual connectivity environment, higher frequency bands may not beemployed when a round trip time (RTT) exceeds a threshold. When RTT ishigh, for example, due to a UE being far from a base station, the UE ismore likely to experience more blocking events than when RTT is low,i.e. the UE is closer to the base station. A network device may indicateto a UE, via RRC signaling or other signaling, that any one or more ofthe parameters disclosed herein may change based on RTT or RTTthreshold.

A mobile edge computing (MEC) service may enable sensing negotiation,for example, providing responses to requests for sensing configurationsand parameters, based on parameters provided to the MEC service frominfrastructure and wireless nodes with a network. A MEC has limitedspace, for example, at a BS or AP and that limited space may need to bemanaged.

For example, a MEC device located at a transceiver may be configured toonly cache applications when they are needed, for example, based on anumber of users in a cell or geographical area. It may be done based ona number of requests for an MEC app, application service type or thelike. For example, the MEC device may run a counter and after athreshold, the MEC device may request an APP from the network. This maybe done if there is threshold space available. Caching of data may beperformed.

In this way, the MEC device may only cache data based on whether or notthe data is expected to be used in the future. Data may be cached basedon a throughput between a MEC app and a data provided. Fore example, ifthe throughput is high, caching operations may not be employed. Whenthroughput is low, caching services may be needed even more.

Stations (STAs) may receive an allocation in time, frequency or space.In an embodiment, a STA may receive an allocation in frequency, forexample, a channel, subchannel or the like and may transmit data at agiven priority or higher. For example, a channel may be assigned forvideo, voice or high bandwidth applications and STA may transmit anypriority above the given priority for the channel. Trigger frames may beused to allocate channels, bands, link identifier, AP identifier,transmitter identifier, receiver(s), group(s), for example, using agroupcast address, or the like etc. Information elements may be in theheader or body portion of the message. Lower priority data may betransmitted on other channels, for example, with or without employing alisten before talk or clear channel assessment procedure, for example,based on Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA). Lower prioritytransmission may or may not be multiplexed instead of dropped scenarios.Trigger frames may indicate STAs by identifier, for example, macaddress, AID or the like. Trigger frames may allocate a channel by achannel ID, subchannel ID or a band ID or the like. Partial allocationsmay also be available, for example, an entire channel allocation and aperiodicity or time based allocation of another channel may be assigned.Maximum channel occupancy times (COT) may vary per receiver/transmitterand may be assigned or modified according to parameters disclosedherein.

FIG. 1 is an example of an access point (AP) 102 and one or morestations (STAs) 104. As shown in FIG. 1 , an AP may delineate CSMA TXOPS106, 108 followed by CAP periods 110, 112 which are non-contention basedperiods. If STA2 detects that STA1 does not transmit in a first CSMATXOP 106 and does not transmit on a following scheduled non contentionbased CAP transmission 110 and makes no transmission in a subsequentCSMA TXOP 108, STA2 may assume that a CAP 112 that follows belongscompletely to itself, i.e. STA2. In another option, if the traffictransmitted by STA1 is periodic traffic, for example, on an x msschedule, if STA2 detects no transmission from STA1 for this period, theSTA2 may assume that a CAP which follows can be used more fully. Othernetwork access mechanisms may be used, for example, Non-BroadcastMultiple Access (NBMA).

The use of the channel by STA2 may be more subtle than simply detectingno transmission for a period. For example, the STA2 may scan multiplechannels or multiple channel bands for the transmission of STA1. If STA1does not transmit on channel y, for example, STA2 may determine thatchannel x is available even though a portion of CAP has been dedicatedto STA1. If STA2 detects that there are more STA2 which rely on the CAP,the STA2 may backoff the CAP or may transmit only for a reduced orrandom time, etc. STAs may also consider the relative power levels (forexample, selected based on an instruction or previoustransmission/reception) or receive an explicit indication from the STAfor determining whether another STA no longer needs a scheduledresource. Transmissions to STAs or from STAs may have legacy fields usedto indicate parameters to legacy type devices. Fields which follow thelegacy fields, for example, HE-SIG fields (SIG-A) or (SIG-B) fields mayindicate parameters for more modern type devices. A HE-SIG field mayinclude training information and a number of training fields may beprovided. The number of fields may be indicated prior to the informationfields being transmitted. This way, a receiver can decode the number offields which may be received. In addition to training information, theSIG fields may include a number of group IDs (preceded by a number ofgroup IDs identifier. Additionally, a number of STAs may be indicated, anumber of messages which follow or the like may be included in a SIGfield.

FIG. 2 is a timing diagram which illustrates push based wake upmessaging methods which may be sidelink based. FIG. 2 shows a SIP UA 1202, SIP UA 2 204, push service 206, SIP proxy 208 and SIPRegistrar/home proxy 210. A SIP UA 1 202 may subscribe 212 to SIP UA 2204 and receive a PRID1 214. The SIP UA 1 202 may subscribe 216 to apush service 206 and receive a PRID2 218. The UA may send a SIP REGISTERrequest 220 with the PRID2 to the SIP Proxy 208 who forwards 222 theregister request to a home proxy. A SIP 200 224 may follow and beprovided 226 to the SIP UA 1 202. When the SIP UA 1 202 is to be wokenup, a SIP invite 228 is provided to the SIP proxy 208, who sends a pushrequest 230 indicating UA1 and the PRID2 to a SIP UA 2 204. A pushmessage 232 is sent from the push service 206 and the SIP UA 2 204 sendsthe push message 234 comprising the UA1 indicator and the PRID2 to SIPUA 1 202. In this way, a UA may be pushed a message having a PRID via asidelink connection only. Because of this, the first UE need onlymonitor a sidelink channel and can subsequently turn on a long range(3GPP, WLAN, etc) transceiver.

SIP and IMS capabilities may be augmented by application specificcapabilities. Non-cellular application based messaging protocols do notnecessarily correlate to cellular protocols. For example, cellularstandards may not keep up with each new application released since manychat applications are brought online and never take off. Further,popular instant messaging protocols have functions that differ fromstandard protocols and may have no desire to rely on lower techstandardized protocols. However, users desire a unified messagingformat. Example companies publishing chat applications include:WhatsApp, WeChat, QQ Messenger, Viber, Line, Snapchat, KakaoTalk, GoogleHangouts, Blackberry Messenger, Signal, Telegram, Zalo, FacebookMessenger, Twitter messenger. Supported and installed application may bereported via SIP registration requests or other messages. Assuming twoUEs agree to share lists of installed applications, then each UE mayreceive a list of another UEs supported apps from an app server orcellular server.

A request/response protocol which may be 3gpp standardized may beimplemented for use by the applications. For example, a transmitting UEmay transmit a request in any application layer protocol for acapability inquiry of another device. The request may be in theapplication protocol which already has been established.

1. UE1->UE2 sends application specific message. For example, “HelloBob.”

2. UE2->UE1 responds. For example, “Hi Jane.”

3. UE1->requests capability report of UE2 via an App message.

4. UE2 accepts capability report and UE2 forwards the capability reportto UE1 over the application specific protocol. A Capability report maybe include all SIP and IMS capabilities of the device as well as a listof applications and app versions of the supported installed apps anduser handles, phone numbers and the like associated with those apps.

5. UE1 maintains a table of capabilities and apps of UE2.

6. User of UE1 creates a message on an app and sends message to UE2. Ifa delivery confirmation message is returned, UE1 updates a timestampwith a last successfully transmitted message to UE2. If a message is notreceived within a time threshold, UE1 may repeat the message overanother App. The another App may be selected based on the data andpriority of the data used. The selection may consider a last timestampof the another App. For example, if a plurality of app or app versionssupport a given protocol, if a user is determined to be unavailable forone selected app, then the client device may select another appsupportive of the given protocol. An operating system may maintain alist of application and application versions which support a givenprotocol.

In some embodiments, capability requests/reports may be handled via anoperating system which sends the request and report messages over astandardized protocol. For example, an app may request capabilities ofanother device and an identifier and other information corresponding tothe requested capabilities may be sent to a network server. A responsemay be provided in return.

Alternatively, or in combination, the app may provide the requestdirectly to a cellular network server via standardized protocolsincluding SIP or IMS etc.

FIG. 3 illustrates a scenario in which a single content origin server302 is serving content to three different UEs 318-322 via threedifferent CDN providers (A, B and C) 304-308. CDN A 304 provides contentto a first AP 310, CDN provider B 306 provides content to a second AP312 and a base station 314; and CDN provider C 308 provides content tothe base station 314 as well. The base station 314 may detect, via aconfigured bit or string in a header portion of the data content, thatsame data is being retrieved more than once (from CDN provider B 306 andCDN provided C 308). The base station 314 may inform CDN provider B 306and CDN provider C 308 of the duplication via HTTP or anotherapplication layer protocol. The base station 314 may use lower levelprotocols, for example, if either CDN operates on a cellular corenetwork. AP 316 may be receiving content duplicated via AP 310 and AP312. The AP 316 may notify either AP of the duplication. The informingmay be done via unicast, multicast or broadcast. In some embodiments,APs and other network elements may report support for unicast, multicastor broadcast via capability identifiers, ANQP elements or by beaconframes, probe response frames, protocol data units (PDUs) or the like.ANQP elements may be used to indicate a capability of any one of thefeatures disclosed herein. APs and STAs may be configured to proactivelycache content depending on a capability to do so. A single UE may beserved by one or more relays, each relay serving multiple UEs. Eachrelay may serve a same or different content of the cache.

Caching may be performed at any node herein, for example, a UE, STA, BS,AP, TRP etc. A support for caching may be reported by and to devices. Anode may determine whether to cache a file or content based on it'sperceived relevance in terms of times accessed, its QoS parameters, anumber of stas in a cell or direction requesting access or the like.Instead of directly caching content, a base station or other device maystore in a cache table a most recent UE (or list of ordered most recentUEs) who recently received the cached content. Caching devices may beintermediaries in end-to-end file transfer. In embodiments, this cachingmay apply to multiple UEs. For example, a base station may cache a UEwho received a cached object. The UE may cache another UE identifier whoreceived the object via sidelink. This way, a base station may requestfrom a first UE the cached object when it receives a request from adifferent UE. If the first UE does not have the object, the first UE mayrequest from another UE who it provided the object to. The object maythen be passed back to the base station. The base station may signal arequest for an object in terms of a breadth first search or depth firstsearch. In this way, UEs may know when to stop requesting the object. Ifthe BS determines that a UE went out of range in a direction, the BS maycache a nearby base station ID for requesting the object. Thus anotherBS may query its UEs for an object on request. Requests from BS->BS maybe wireless, wired or a combination of the two, for example, requestsmay be sent on both. Requesting cache contents may be limited tounderlay BSs from an overlay BS or overlay BSs from an underlay BS.Alternatively, underlay BSs may request the content object from oneanother or overlay BSs may pass requests. Cache requests sent wirelesslymay be provided before, during or after a request is provided to theoriginal content store, i.e. like the original request was made. Cachingmay be employed for control parameters as well as data content.

STAs or UEs may act as relays between transmitters. For example, FIG.illustrates a coordination diagram which illustrates examplecoordination transmissions. In an embodiment, an AP may transmit acoordination request (Crequest) which is not heard by another AP. STA11406 AND sta12 408 within the BSS1 420 may detect no coordinationresponse (Cresponse) and may rebroadcast the Crequest 410, 412. Once theAP2 440 hears the Crequest rebroadcasted 410, 412 by STA11 406 and/orSTA12 408, the AP2 440 sends a Cresponse 414 which may be appropriatelyforwarded 416, 418 by STA11 406 and/or STA12 408 as needed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a cascade transmit diagram. FIG. 5 shows two BSSsBSS1 502 and BSS2 504. STA11 508 and STA12 510 may be configured tocascade transmit, for example, only retransmit the coordinationtransmission one at a time. This may be accomplished by including acascade indicator or sta order indicator in the Crequest frame 520.Thus, STA11 508 may first broadcast a Cresponse 522, followed by aCresponse 526 by STA12 510 if a Cresponse 524 is not heard by the STAs.AP2 512 may continue transmitting Cresponses 528, 530. STA11 508 maytransmit a Cresponse 534 and STA12 may transmit a Cresponse 532.

An order indicator may be a bitmap including STAs in a BSS or may be anindicator for STAs only in a certain direction. In any event, a group idmay be included which may signal a subset of STAs who should participatein the coordination effort. Coordination may be performed for soundingpurposes, thus frames may include sounding information. Alternatively,or in combination, coordination frames may be used for data transmissionand scheduling, for sidelink type transmission scheduling. Coordinationframes may include any parameter disclosed herein. Cascading powertransmissions may be employed, similar to those disclosed in U.S.application Ser. No. 16/421,034, disclosed by reference herein.

Some links may be radio over fiber links. However, some scenarios areshown in FIG. 3 in which communication between devices is wireless only.For example, the right most AP may receive same content from both leftmost APs. The APs may be informed of the forwarding loop via a beaconframe, management frame, control frame or the like assuming both APsoperate on a same protocol. The APs may exchange a capability to detectloops which may occur. Loops may also occur when UEs are connected viasidelink in a peer to peer fashion. When a UE detects a loop, the UE mayreport the incident via PHY, MAC, RLC or PDCP signaling either over thesidelink channel or to the network directly. Reports may also be sent toa CDN directly if the UE, AP or base station knows the CDN ID. Loops mayoccur in part due to a UE or network device which has a plurality of SIMcards. A UE may report a capability to report looping when a pluralityof SIM cards are supported or configured UEs may be MIMO or multiusermultiple input single output (MISO) capable.

STAs may acknowledge transmissions on one or more of potential downlinklinks to the STA. For example, if a STA is receiving data on two links,the links may provide the same data in duplicate, or the links mayprovide different data. Links may be orthogonal. Links may betransmission links and links may be reception links. Links may befronthaul or backhaul links. Some links may have a primary channel andsecondary channel. Other links may have a single primary channel. Linksmay be links of each one of a plurality of SIM cards. A link capabilitymay be reported, for example, devices may announce (broadcast, unicast,or multicast) link capability information. An ACK may be provided forall data received over a time period on either link. An ACK may beprovided on one link only or no ACK may be provided at all. The AP mayestablish a block ack agreement type and request ACKs from the STAs. Theblock ack agreement may apply to data transmitted on the uplink (toother STAs or to the AP) as well. Block ACK agreements may specify band,bandwidth, time etc for block ack transmissions. In some embodiments,response messages may be based on an initial transmission and thus noseparate ACK need be provided. Link attributes and details may beadvertised in any transmitted frame, for example, a beacon frame, an NDPframe an advertisement frame or the like.

Block Ack or other ACK frames may be segmented into different types. Inan embodiment, a block ack frame may be a normal-block ACK or a linkadaptation block ack frame. The link adaptation block ACK framecomprises information like suggested MCS, suggested beam information orthe like. Because the link adaptation block ACK frame is larger than thenormal-block ACK frame, it may not be desirable to use the linkadaptation type frame at every ack transmission. For example, STAs maynegotiate a pattern for providing link adaptation frames. The patternmay be specified in beacon frames or in data frames preceding the blockACK frame. The pattern may be altered by providing a link adaptationsuggestion frame by the frame providing ACKS. For example, the linkadaptation suggestion frame may suggest a frequency for providing MCSfeedback for a duration or period. Other parameters herein may be usedfor link adaptation and may be negotiated accordingly. Link adaptationframes may be determined to be used based on network congestion, forexample, for high data rate application in high network congestion, linkadaptation frames may be used, while for low data rate applications linkadaptation frames may not be used (or vice versa). Link adaptation blockACK frames may be used for shared/sharing transmissions of multi-APtransmissions.

A capability to participate in link adaptation block ACKs may bedetermined based on advertised capability and/or release version. STAsmay determine based on the link adaptation parameters that linkadaptation frames need not be used and should revert to normal block ACKframe types or other frame types. In an embodiment, when twotransmitting joint APs, one which supports link adaptation block ACKframes and another which does not, then the link adaptation block ACKframe may not be used.

Networks (public or non public networks) may use artificial intelligencealgorithms for loop detection, for example, via machine learning orother AI techniques and AI algorithms. AI algorithms include bayestheorem, decision trees, machine learning, genetic algorithms, expertsystems, regression, generative adversarial networks (GANs), regression,Markoff chain, monte carlo methods, neural networks, reinforcementlearning algorithms among others. In some embodiments, aspects of RANnetworks may be reconfigured via an AI algorithm. In some embodiments,routes may be rerouted based on previous analysis via neural networktraining. In other embodiments, entire nodes including base stations andrelay stations may power down or limit frequency or time usage. In someembodiments, UEs will limit base station access via neural networktraining information. In some embodiments, based on neural networktraining, a UE may be configured to transmit or receive only at a givenQoS. Neural network or other AI information or training data may bereceived by a device via PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC layer or other layersignaling.

Base stations may vary or alter a number of beams, beam width,subcarrier spacing, frequency use, and the like via a neural networkwhich may be trained. In an embodiment, an untrained base station mayinitially transmit a number of SSBs, for example, based on transmittertype, altitude, location, number of SSBs within an interval, SSB index,direction etc. The base station may receive one or more of channelquality information (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI) CSI-RSResource Indicator (CRI) SS/PBCH Resource Block Indicator, layerindicator LI, rank indicator (RI) an/or L1-RSRP from each UE in range.The base station may then determine UE location and how scattered theUEs are, based on the received feedback. The base station may providethe feedback information to the neural network and operate the cell asmay be preprogramed to. Given some training data, the base station mayprocess the UE feedback and location information in order to determinehow to accurately adapt beam width, number of beams, subcarrier spacing,allocation type, etc. to match the number of UEs accordingly. A basestation may receive neighbor reports from same RAT or different RAT basestations to input into the neural network. Training data may comprisesimilar data.

Base stations may be able to predict load increases. For example, a basestation may learn that at a given interval, a train will pass through orenter it's cell. In this way, a base station may allocate more resourcesfor those users about to enter the cell and perform random access. Thebase station may limit frequency/time resources to other users withinthe cell for the period just before the train should enter. The basestation may predict, via communication with other previous basestations, if a train is delayed and thus may delay allocating additionalresources for random access or other transmissions. A satellite mayperform a similar function, i.e. by understanding previous trafficconditions based on time of day, day of week, holiday, and the like, thesatellite may allocate or change resources accordingly. Base stationsmay exchange neural network training information. For example, a basestation may rely on training data sets of another base station and maydiscount the training set based on providing base station type, locationdistance or the like. Training sets may be established based on anynetwork information disclosed herein.

Neural networks may be used for sounding reference signal transmissionfrequency, beam management decision making, measurement reporttaking/triggering, mobility determination, user density analysis,indoor/outdoor decision making, MCS and other coding decision making,HARQ ACK transmission or dropping and the like. Neural networks may beused to assess link load and link likelihood of use at a certain day,hour, minute etc. for a plurality of AP users (STA devices). Forexample, if there are no users at a given time of the day, for example,during work hours, the AP may decide to cull some links or power downaltogether and wake up at a time with which a user is expected to behome. This may be performed during an observation step.

FIG. 6 illustrates artificial intelligence (AI) techniques which may beemployed to observe a state representation or observationrepresentation. A state representation or observation representation 602may be gathered and stored in an accessible format. A neural network 604may be used to determine actions to perform, determine results ofpotential actions and make predictions 606. This information may be fedto a network controller 608 which interfaces with one or more networkelements of a radio access network 610 to control that element and/orthe network as a whole. Reward information 612 may be fed back to theneural network. For example, AI techniques may be used to determine anumber of CUs and/or DUs to deploy or instantiate or a network splittype or level. Information fed into the neural network may be based onkey performance indicators (KPIs), for example, KPIs based on UE type(mobile UE, handheld UE, car, train, bus, etc.).

A state representation of a UE may include an RRC state, for example,IDLE, CONNECTED and INACTIVE states and/or a transition between eachstate. State information of a network node, for example, a base stationmay include a state determined by what the node is currentlytransmitting, for example, system information, synchronization (PSS,SSS), user data, control data or the like. Other state information maybe determined via instructions to a UE including carrier aggregationinstructions (add, release or the like), handover, dual connectivity,configuration of radio bearers. State information may includeinformation from measurement reports from UEs and/or other base stationsor other nodes.

State information may or may not include information reported by UEs,for example, control information. State information may include anumerology (symbol duration, slot duration, number of OFDM symbols) fora UE(s), bandwidth, modulation, power level (for example via transmitpower control (TPC) commands), channel state information or the like.State information may be based on the size of the cell, the state of thecell (overloaded vs. empty). State information may consider CQIreported, SRS reported and/or may consider the flexibility of SRS basedon a mode of the UE. State information may consider whether a UE isaccessing URLLC services, eMBB services or eMTC services. Location,power and signal strength may be considered. State information mayrelate to user location derived from position and/or an estimatedpathloss.

The controller may signal resources for a base station to use and toprovide to UEs for sidelink usage. For example, the controller mayschedule and set up links based on location distance and pathloss.Sidelink may be for safety messages, or the like. The controller maysuggest to a UE to upgrade software or switch routing ortransmission/reception protocols. Backward compatibility may besupported. The controller may make suggestions on transmit/receivediversity based on a reported capability of a UE. In this way, thecapability of a plurality of UEs in a location may be viewed in terms ofstate representation for input to a neural network. Capabilities includeany capability herein as well as a space-time coding capability or spacedivision multiplexing (SDM) capability, precoding capability, MIMOcapability non orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) capability or the like.Capabilities may be indicated via a PHY or MAC header. For example, acapability ID may be indicated in the header section. Further, a UE maybe capable of accessing a relay, transmitting in an ad-hoc fashion oraccessing a particular base station. This information may be indicatedin a capability identifier and supplied to a network accordingly. Basedon this information, the controller may schedule or direct UEs or STAsaccordingly.

Scheduling of users within a cell may encompass QoE which relates tomore than simply network related QoS. For example, QoE includesbuffering events, interruptions, stalled video playback, and the like.QoE may be based on file type, for example, video, audio, ftp typedownload, whether synchronous vs. asynchronous etc. Users may notperform QoE tasks, rather information on playback, interruptions, etcmay be discovered by the sender implicitly or provided explicitly fromthe UE in feedback frames or other data frames. QoE feedback may beprovided to a network server or network node via serving side based onacknowledgements and timeliness feedback. A server may be located remote(outside network/another network) or at network edge. Schedulingdecisions may be based on QoS and QoE of users within cell and usersoutside of cell.

Software upgrades and/or remote programming may be performed wirelessly.For example, a device such as a microprocessor, FPGA etc may have it'sown local wireless adapter which may be toggled via a switch or burn infuse. Initially, the fuse may be in such a position where programming isavailable, and then the fuse may be closed to subsequent wirelessprogramming before a device is field deployed so as to avoidreprogramming by a malicious user. In an embodiment, the wirelessreceiver operating on chip or on board may be a Bluetooth or Wi-Ficompatible device. Alternatively, the chip may be precoded withinstructions for receiving programming instructions based on an onboardWi-Fi adapter or other adapter, for, example using a network on chiparchitecture. A remote device may provide software write instructions,Joint Test Action Group (jtag) instructions/commands, register readingand writing, breakpoint setting and the like. Wireless JTAG devices mayencapsulate JTAG protocol, for example, by providing clock signaling orother timing information. In embodiments, devices may indicate orbroadcast a capability to support wireless debugging. A hardwired buttonpress may be enabled to signal debugging pairing. Authenticationparameters for wireless debugging may be based on a hardware identifieror a debugger or chipset, a 3gpp parameter or other telco parameter orany parameter herein for that matter.

DCI Control format 2_7 or another DCI format may be used to indicate aflexible SRS assignment and may further indicate coverage and capacityparameters. DCI format 2_8 or another DCI format may be used to indicatemultiple TRP scheduling parameters. In embodiments, mTRP schedulingparameters may include flexible SRS indicators. Scheduling may beperformed in accordance with an adaptive network bitrate or an adaptivemodulation scheme, based on throughput and/or signal to noise or thelike. Capabilities may be specified in terms of link support levels, forexample, a number of links on the receive side and a number of linkssupported on the transmit side. Capabilities may be simultaneous innature, for example, a total of X links supported, wherein X=A+B,wherein A=receive capabilities and B=transmit capabilities.

A UE may perform provisioning over a sidelink or v2x relay, for example,if the UE does not have another network access path. The UE may receivefrom another UE a list of bootstrap servers, a list of server trustanchors and a list of trust anchor references. The UE may be configuredwith a list of UD IDs for which the UE may reach out to in an effort forobtain this information. The UE may, instead of retrieving informationfrom a bootstrap server directly, request a sidelink UE to obtainbootstrap information on its behalf. In this way, the bootstrapping UEmay not need to know the list of bootstrap servers, list of server trustanchors and a list of trust anchor references and may rely on another toobtain bootstrap information. A UE may receive sidelink DCI on DCIformats 3_2 or 3_3.

The UE may be configured with security information (keys, certificatesor the like) of another UE accessible via sidelink and may authenticatethe another UE. The UE may be configured with a group ID or other IDinstead of a single UE ID.

Security may be employed via physical layer, MAC layer or higher layersecurity procedures. Using physical layer procedures, for example, acryptographic key or set of cryptographic keys may be derived viachannel state information (CSI), beam forming information, channelstatistics or other channel characteristics gleamed from measurementstaken on a channel. These channel characteristics may be determined frombeacon signals transmitted by an access point or via scheduled orunscheduled transmissions made by a STA. Other methods of employingphysical layer security include an addition of random noise into a datatransmission to degrade detection ability.

Physical layer security may be relevant with respect to V2X or D2D typedevice communication. A cellular network may provide parameters to aidin V2X type communication, including for example, a physical layersecurity algorithm to be employed, physical layer capabilities of one ormore devices within a given area, modulation and coding methods foraugmented security, frequency hopping and spread spectrum parameters forexample, a hopping scheme or resource pool.

Physical layer security may be employed in traditional RF typetransmissions and may also be employed in light based transmissions(infrared, visible light spectrum). One physical layer securitytechnique may involve determining that a transmission by a user is at ahigher receive power than expected. In this case, a malicious user maybe attempting to deceive a receiving device into thinking that themalicious user is legitimate. Receiving the higher strength signaldespite not signaling a TPC command instructing an increase is anindication that a malicious user has attempted an attack. Once amalicious attempt has been considered, devices may rely on other deviceswith known location, signal, beam, power etc. to verify whether themalicious device is who he claims to be. This may be done by group based(for example, joint transmission messages to the malicious user orsingle user verification messages. Response times may be calculated viaresponse messages to the verification messages. If the response time isnot appropriate, not timely or the malicious user fails to respond to achallenge correctly, one or more devices of the network may determinethat the malicious user is malicious and thus disallowtransmissions/receptions.

Hopping schemes may me applicable on uplink, downlink, direct link orsidelink. A UE or STA may be configured to report a capability tosupport various schemes, for example, time, frequency or space hoppingschemes. In the downlink, an AP or BS may convey a hopping pattern forsubsequent transmissions. The transmissions may follow, without the needfor the pattern to be conveyed, subsequently. The transmissions may berepetitions of a same data unit or may be new data. In some examples, aportion of a transmission may be repeated thus indicating that therepeated transmission is a repeat.

In an embodiment, a UE may continuously transmit a data and/or controlsignal over a plurality of slots/subframes. The UE may not performfrequency hopping, for example, the UE may transmit on same frequencyresources over the plurality of slots based on RRC or other layersignaling. The UE may receive, in RRC, a number of slots to monitorprior to switching to another frequency. For example, when n=1, the UEwill monitor one slot prior to a switch in frequency occurring. n may beprovided via RRC, MAC or DCI. The UE may request to configure n based oncapabilities. N may be a number more granular than slot leve, forexample, n may be symbol specific such that frequency hopping may beemployed within a slot. A number of hops per symbol, subframe etc, maybe associated with UE capability and/or negotiated with the network.

In embodiments, a cryptographic identifier, for example, a SHA code mayprecede a data portion thus indicating that a transmission is repeated.Alternatively, or in combination, when a transmission occurs within agiven time/frequency or beam space, from an earlier transmission, areceiving STA may consider the reception a repetition. In some examples,only a portion of the data may be repeated, for example, by a dedicatedrepeater device. In the uplink, APs or BSs may use trigger frames toconvey resources for uplink transmission by STAs. Patterns may be usedto trigger uplink data, for example, a trigger frame may trigger framesover 1 or 2 time intervals. Alternatively, a trigger frame may betransmitted after every X uplink transmissions. Uplink or downlink datamay be a mix of persistent data and periodic data. Trigger frames may betransmitted at lower data rates or coding rates than the subsequent dataframes.

The trigger frame may indicate whether the frame is triggeringpersistent or periodic data. The trigger frame may indicate a QoS,resource allocation, (type, space or time frequency pattern type orformat). If the trigger frame indicates a hopping schedule, the schedulemay indicate a pattern to each STA, based on the STA order within agroup or the STAs physical identifier, etc. An AP may change the patternat each uplink transmission or the pattern may be changed every Xtransmission intervals. The space, time or frequency that a STA uses onuplink may be indicated in the trigger frame or the AP may preconfigurethe STAs within a group with the patterns and then use the triggerframes to indicate which pattern to use. STAs may implicitly determinewhen to receive acknowledgements. For example, a broadcast ACK orMU-ACK. Patterns may involve scheduling resources or resource units tomore than 1 STA or a single STA may be configured with multiple resourceunits. A STA may determine when to receive an acknowledgement based onprevious ack responses. For congestion control purposes, if acks arecontinuously positive, the STA may receive larger size block ACKs lessfrequently than if frames are regularly NACKed and requireretransmission by the source. This may aid in congestion control, i.e.,the number of transmitted frames may be increased before an ACK isreceived. Block acks may increase in size, thus become delayed, as thechannel conditions improve (or stay positive). Delayed ACKs may becomerelevant based on a QoS or latency of triggered data transmissions.

The trigger type may implicitly indicate a number of uplinktransmissions to occur prior to transmission of a subsequent trigger(for more uplink transmissions). In a method, a trigger type subfieldmay be set to a value between 8 and 15, for example, using binaryequivalents [1000], [1001], [1010], [1011], [1100], [1101], [1110],[1111]. Each value may represent a different pattern, set of patterns,pattern offset, pattern hopping, pattern sequence, acknowledgement type,HARQ/ACK type, data, control, UL beamforming (hybrid, analog, digital)training request, UL csi training request or a combination of these.Some values may specify certain power modes, for example, low medium orhigh power modes. Alternatively, a value greater than 15 may be used. Apattern may be indicated in part by the number of users indicated by thetrigger frame. Triggers may be used to request feedback which may betime, frequency or space based. Feedback opportunities, or the desire totransmit feedback, may be based on a degree of UE autonomy, isolationand/or security. Transmission opportunities, for example, feedbackopportunities may further be based on service continuity, for example, atype of service continuity.

Trigger frames may indicate resources for sidelink or direct linkbetween STAs. A trigger frame may be provided to STAs, of which someSTAs are direct link STAs, some are uplink STAs and some are downlinkSTAs. Using MU-MIMO and/or OFDMA, the STAs may transmit and receivesimultaneously, for example, on a same link or on different links, forexample, to multiple receivers or a single receiver.

FIG. 7 illustrates that RTS/CTS frames may specify a duration includingthe CTS, trigger, uplink/directlink/downlink PPDU(s), ACKs and SIFs. TheRTS/CTS 702, 704 may indicate that direct link transmissions are tofollow. The trigger frame 706 may specify one or more: MCS indicators,STA identifiers, special assignment, frequency assignment, timingassignment, block ack types, resources for acknowledgement, resourcepool information for direct link assignments or the like. In an example,the trigger frame 706 triggers a downlink transmission 708 from an AP toa STA; a direct link transmission 710 from a STA to another STA; adirect link transmission 712 from another STA to another STA; an uplinktransmission 714 from a STA to an AP; and an uplink transmission 716from another STA to one or more APs. Acknowledgement frames 718-724 arealso scheduled by the trigger frame in an embodiment.

Any frame shown in FIG. 7 may be transmitter or received simultaneouslywith a frame of another STA. For example, CTS frames may be providedsimultaneously from STAs clearing the medium. RTS frames may be providedby the AP or STA. STA ID and link type may be indicated in the triggerframe as a bitmap. For example, a bit pattern specifying STA ID mayprecede bit pattern specifying link type, frequency etc.

Trigger or other resource grant messages or frames may indicate thatsome resources are resources of another access technology, for example,a light communication based access technology. In an example, thetrigger frame may indicate whether resources are scheduled outside of a160 mhz band, the trigger frame may indicate the access technology, forexample the light type access technology. The trigger frame may indicatethat a number of antennas, transmitters or light emitting diodes (LEDs)is greater than a number, for example greater than 2, 4, or 8. Triggeror other frames may specify light range in line of sight (LOS) or NLOSbased topologies. Trigger frames may be transmitted from APs havingbroad coverage, for example, covering a plurality of LED transmittersand/or optical receivers. Trigger frames may specify duration fields sothat light communication STAs may ignore transmissions for a duration,i.e. they may set a NAV for the duration.

Trigger frames may be of varying sizes. For example, a trigger framewhich specifies a pattern for a plurality of users may precede a triggerframe which specifies a grant for a subset of the users or merely achange to the pattern. Trigger frames may be referred to by their bitlength or occupancy time, i.e. some trigger frames may be shorter thanor may convey less information than others. In an example, atransmission pattern may be provided to a plurality of STAs in a triggerframe. The trigger frame may include a random number to identify thetrigger frame and subsequent UL or DL transmissions of the pattern. STAsmay TX using the random identifier or a portion of the randomidentifier. Shortened trigger frames may be transmitted on a smallerportion of the frequency band, for example, a 20 mhz portion of a 40 mhzor larger band. The trigger may or may not be repeated in the otherbands. In this way, STAs which may only operate on a band portion, mayreceive the trigger frame, and may act accordingly.

Trigger frames may indicate a cooperation pattern, for example, apattern for a plurality of users to share information prior tocooperatively transmitting the combined set of information to the accesspoint. The patterns may indicate resources for initial transmissionamong STAs, for retransmission among STAs and for subsequentretransmission to the AP. The patterns may change over time in the caseof persistent uplink data transmission. Alternatively, the STAs need nottransmit anything to the AP, rather the STAs may simply exchangeinformation using the transmitted pattern. The AP may still indicate ina broadcast frame or other frame that the medium is busy for a duration.CSI information may follow trigger frames or may be provided by theSTAs. The term STA and UE may be used interchangeably throughout thisdisclosure.

Patterns may be based on QoS of the uplink frames which is reported inbuffer status reports or transmission requests. Patterns may be based onwhether or not resources are determined available, for example, based ona LBT procedure or a plurality of LBTs performed in a band, subband orthe like. Patterns may specify locations in time/frequency/space forwhich additional or sub-patterns may be transmitted. The sub-patternsmay be or may indicate smaller or shorter patterns for UP/DLtransmissions. Patterns may provide two way (or three way) resources,for example, UL, DL and SL resources, for example, in a same band ordifferent band. Patterns may be forwarded or rebroadcasted intime/frequency/space by another AP or STA. Patterns may provide atransmission duration, for example, a duration per sector or durationper frequency or sub pattern. Patterns may indicate resources forcontrol and data separately and may also be transmitted with pilotsignals. Patterns may vary in size depending on whether or not HARQ issupported. For example, if HARQ is supported, patterns may scheduleretransmission resources adaptively based on the need or based on CQIetc. DCI Control formats 3_4, 3_5 and 3_6 may include patterninformation.

Patterns may be used for multi-AP transmissions, for example,transmissions from multiple APs to multiple STAs or from multiple STAsto multiple APs. Multi-AP transmissions may include a pattern framewhich indicates when additional triggers, data frames, NDPs and feedbackshall occur. For example, pattern transmissions may include periodictype instructions which may be for both downlink or uplink data,sounding frame transmissions to STAs followed by beamforming, CQIfeedback or other feedback. Feedback may be quantized. Patterns mayspecify a group ID and/or order of transmissions of the STAs to one ormore of the APs. Each AP may provide a group ID of which STAs may bemembers of. Group IDs may also be coordinated between the APs usingmanagement frames. In this way, when a group of APs signals a pattern, asingle group ID may specify STAs of both APs. Pattern information maycomprise reference signals, for example a sounding reference signal(SRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRSs), pilot signals, datasignals, discovery reference signals or the like. These signals may beassociated with one another and/or transmitted with one another.

Group sounding procedures may reduce overhead. For example, a STA mayperform sounding simultaneously with a plurality of APs and/or aplurality of other STAs. In an embodiment, a STA may receive a triggerframe indicating a STA ID, for example an association ID, transmitterID, panel or association id/panel pair, or any combination of the same.In response, the STA may transmit on resources indicated in the triggerframe, for example, time, frequency beam resources. This transmissionmay be broadcast and overheard by other STAs, other APs, grouptransmitters, other relay STAs and other slave or master nodes (forexample polling nodes) which are a given distance away. Thetransmissions may indicate a beam such that a receiver may derive alocation of the transmitting STA. Receiving STAs may retransmit thereceived sounding information to other STAs based on STA movement,power, STA distance or the like. Instead of using multi-usertransmission techniques, single user, for example, time delay typetransmissions may occur where a STA receiving a trigger may delay basedon an order or a time indicated in the trigger frame.

Transmissions, for example, UE base station(s) transmission(s) may bealined in time/frequency and not beam, for example, by using multiplespatial streams to transmit a data or control frame to the plurality ofAPs. This spatial stream determination may be discovered with or withoutreceiving an indication by the APs who trigger the uplink transmission.For example, a STA may sample the trigger frame, or another frameimmediately preceding or following the trigger and derive spatial streaminformation via beamforming or channel state detection procedures. Thisway, the AP(s) may also learn of a best beam(s) along with the uplinktransmission by the STA(s).

APs may share a group of Traffic IDs, for example, an AP may scheduletraffic to or receive traffic from a STA which shares a traffic ID withmultiple APs. APs may negotiate the use of shared TID groupings whichmay be based on class, traffic type, STA type, capability of AP,capability of STA. The negotiation may be performed with sidelink(AP->AP) direct messages, via STA relays, via negotiation messages, viacapability exchange messages, during association, during a securityagreement/context or the like. Negotiation messages may also negotiatepower, range, blanking intervals or no transmission opportunity times orfrequencies. APs may indicate to STAs as to which AP and which link ofthe AP may be a best AP for the STA based on a STA request. APs may alsodo this via broadcast messaging which includes tables indicative of anyparameter herein and a AP which may best handle that parameter, forexample, a high data rate parameter, security parameter, fast link setupparameter or the like. Neighbor report messages may be used to indicatethe sharing of TIDs, capabilities, etc. STAs which are non-mobile mayindicate a preference to not receive neighbor reports. These STAs maydetermine to ignore the reports and/or not measure signals received fromneighboring APs.

APs may be grouped according to capability, frequency, or otherparameters that may be similar or dissimilar between the elements of thegroup. APs may be grouped, or identified as a group, by a STA looking tocreate a database of like APs. For example, a database of APs that areof a particular parameter, standard or the like.

Feedback may indicate group ID or may be directed to one or more of theAPs. For example, when an AP transmits the trigger, sounding frame, NDPframe or other trigger, the STAs may implicitly transmit feedback tothat transmitter or to another transmitter. NDP frames and data framesmay be simultaneous or staggered, for example one follows another. If asingle AP collects feedback, or acknowledgements, the AP maysubsequently broadcast the information to APs within an area ormulticast the feedback to APs of a group of APs. Pattern transmissionsmay indicate resources for the sharing of the feedback (narrowband orwideband) or acknowledgement messages. Pattern transmissions may have adedicated 4 bit code to indicate transmission type. Furthermore, patterntransmissions of a certain type may also have dedicated 4 bit codes toindicate transmission type. Codes may be dedicated to feedbacktransmissions from sounding transmissions which originate from a certainAP or group of APs.

Physical layer security may or may not be applied to broadcast ACK typemessages for v2x transmission. For example, there may or may not be aneed to encrypt the broadcast ACK messages or portions thereof, forexample, individual MAC address portions. In an embodiment, a broadcastACK message may be transmitted to acknowledge receipt of one or moremessages received from a v2x transmitter within a given period of time.The broadcast ACK may be periodic or aperiodic. The broadcast ACK mayinclude or indicate MAC addresses (fixed or random), IP addresses,association IDs, 5G Globally Unique Temporary Identifiers (5G-GUTIs) orother address types which may be burned in addresses or assignedaddresses. MAC address may return to a preset or hard coded value uponexpiration of a timer or other event described herein. An IP address maybe broadcast by an AP of a group of APs and the IP address may bedynamic or static as the STA is mobile. The broadcast ACK message mayinclude an order format identifier which indicates the order of the MACaddresses. The order type may be based on channel state, RSSI, receivepower level or the like. For example, the MAC addresses may be orderedfrom highest receive power to lowest receive power. This may provide anindication of distance and may indicate transmission power controlinformation since a transmitter may recognize an availability to loweror increase power accordingly. In another embodiment, the broadcast ACKtransmission may include a MAC or other address ordering based onlocation, beam or sector. This way a receiver of the broadcast ACK mayorder the receivers by location. Broadcast ACK messages may betransmitted in response to messages sent as disclosed herein. Based onwhether or not a MAC address is found within the broadcast ACK, atransmitter may determine whether or not to retransmit an originalmessage. In another embodiment, an ordering of MAC addresses based ontime may convey a desire of the receiver to indicate a timing advance tothe transmitter.

In an embodiment, a power aware forwarding technique may be used. Forexample, when an AP, relay or STA forwards a packet, the AP may denotethe required transmission power by deducting a value accordingly fromthe packet header. This signals to a next relay in line that a certainpower level has been used prior to that relay receiving the packet. Ifthe relay detects the level below a threshold, the relay may drop thepacket or provide an indicator to an earlier relay or sender up thechain.

The term UE may comprise a device used in electricity distribution orreception, robotic control (sender/receiver), a voice based device withmicrophone and speaker(s), an industrial sensor, a drone or dronecontroller including camera, display etc, an asset tracking device orasset tracker (for example, via temperature, vibration, motion, pressureor the like), a traffic light, street sign etc, construction equipmentincluding tractor, crane and backhoe controls, and a high definitionvideo display or recorder. Traditional type UEs may be handheld, armheld or positioned on a desktop. UEs and transmitting devices may havedirectional antennas and/or omnidirectional antennas. UEs may beincorporated into trains, planes and automobiles. Handheld controllersmay include haptic controls such that human users may receive feedbackaccordingly. These controllers may include face sensors to detect thehuman users.

Antennas may be or may incorporate traditional cellular phone antennas,dual antennas, antenna panels, or the like. Antennas may take nontraditional forms, for example, when incorporated on or with an opticalcomponent. In on embodiment, a lens or other optical component whichtransmits optical information may also incorporate an RF antenna. In anembodiment, an RF antenna may be implemented via concentric circles,parallel or perpendicular transmission elements either within or outsideof the lens used for optical transmission or reception. In this way, aprocessor may correct for any optical output or optical reception errorsdue to the RF antenna element.

UEs may be capable of receiving 360 degree video feeds or streams thatare streams of cloud based video games. The games may restrict theplayer to only viewing a certain portion of the feed at any given time,although it may be required to provide more than a player'sinstantaneous viewpoint at once. In one embodiment, in order to restricta players viewpoint to a portion of the received video, a key may beprovided which is used to decrypt only the portion for which should bevisible and does not decrypt any other portion. In this way, if a playerneeds to change the visible portion, a new key may be requested.

In cloud gaming, uplink data may be prioritized over downlink data.Thus, classes of data may be organized for cloud type gaming. Uplinkdata comprising key strokes and player movement instructions may be of ahigher QoS than downlink video/audio or uplink video/audio. QoS may bebased on resolution, field of view (based on peripheral vs. central viewimportance), refresh rate, color/color contrast, interaction latency,for example, responsiveness. When a player transmits a request for acloud gaming service, the player may be allocated to a network slicewhich provides or allocates network bandwidth according to the service.For example, for a gaming application which requires intense video onthe downlink, the slice may provide a large downlink bandwidth withlimited uplink bandwidth. For a game which requires limited downlinkbandwidth, the slice may provide smaller downlink bandwidth. The usermay request, in a BSR, a type of game or application traffic type beingrequested. For example, traffic types may include high bandwidth gaming,medium bandwidth gaming or low bandwidth gaming. In another embodiment,a network element may receive a gaming bandwidth type from a gamingserver or cloud edge server which may indicate to the network the sliceor bandwidth required for the user. Bandwidth type may also be based onuser capability. For example, a user with an augmented or virtualreality display may request bandwidth as a type or capability of thedisplay.

Systems may be employed for monitoring users or people. In anembodiment, a system may comprise a camera to take an image of the userfor subsequent processing. The system may also send wireless RF signalsthroughout a space and capture information about the user via RFdiffusion, penetration, reflection and other channel information.Systems may employ multiple antennas, for example, multiple TX/RXantenna pairs. Sharing of heat sensors and other sensors may beemployed. Systems may monitor vital signs, for example, monitor babies(or people of other ages) for breathing and heartbeat. Systems mayreport capabilities for any one of the features disclosed herein, forexample, an ability to track a number of users, an ability to checkparticular vital sign, or the like. People being monitored may or maynot be wearing tags which include transceivers.

In an example, a UE may use RF diffusion, penetration or reflection toestimate a user's position in space relative to the UE and/or speakersof the UE. Having located the user position, audio signals produced bythe speakers may be beamformed so as to provide audio spatial effectsvia, for example, side firing loudspeakers. Beam feedback may beprovided as signals are received based on reception interest. Audiosystems may incorporate DSPs which are components of a system on a chip(SoC). SoC components may include cellular transceiver chips, radio(audio) receivers, Bluetooth, wifi chips, amplifiers, and the like. SoCsmay have circuitry configured to implement Active Noise Cancellation(ANC) among the various transceiver chips. If the SoC is dedicated to avehicle, the SoC may comprise Engine Sound Enhancement (ESE) circuitry.ANC circuitry may receive sensor data from sensors throughout thevehicle, for example, engine sensors, transmission sensors, vehicleoccupant sensors, wheel sensors etc. to make a determination as tohandle noise cancellation.

Drones may perform warehouse automation tasks, for example, scanningitems using RF, moving packages, etc under the guidance of warehouselighting system transmitters which may be RF or may be visible lightbased transmitters. The VLC transmitters may turn on as requested by adrone or other device, for example, by sending a request-lighttransmission over RF and receiving a VLC or rf response. This may allowfor only a subset of the lights to be on at any given instant.Modulation technologies for VLC include on off keying (OOK), Offsetvariable pulse width modulation (VPWM), Multilevel pulse positionmodulation (PPM), Inverted PPM, Subcarrier PPM, direct sequence spreadspectrum (DSSS) and sequence inverse keying (SIK) modulation types. Alight may detect the drone without using RF, for example, the drone maybe detected via microphone (sound), heat, radar, etc. and may turn onthe VLC at that instant providing the drone with both light andcommunication.

VLC transmitters may be used in combination with traditional radiotransmitters to target augmented or virtual reality headset devices.Because these types of headsets require extreme quantities of data withminimal latency, it may be best to employ MIMO radio devices and VLCreceivers (cameras) on the headsets. In this way, massive data receptionmay be employed for example in an office setting where each user hasaccess to one or more lamps providing VLC, however the RF spectrum isshared among the office. The VLC transmitters may be coupled torelays/servers for providing data to the headset devices.

VLC may be used for V2X communication. For example, cameras mounted oncars may be able to view surroundings and also detect informationmodulated via other cars headlights, brake lights or other lights.

Digital signal processors may be used for controlling and driving audiosystems, including amplifiers, loudspeakers, headphones and the like.DSP algorithms may correct or compensate audio signals in real time, forexample, echo cancellation or echo suppression. Background sound orbackground noise may be suppressed. This may be achieved usingbeamforming and microphone arrays, located on the front, side or back ofa cellular telephone or handheld device. Beamforming techniques may beused to locate objects, for example, by performing rotary type beamtransmission and measuring characteristics of a receive beam. Objectlocation may be performed sequentially, i.e. the object being locatedmay be grossly located, for example, using RF beamforming and thenfinely located by adjusting a camera which may record an object, person,or the like. The camera may also be adjusted using the RF beamformingprocess so as to form a feedback loop.

A UE or base station may indicate a switch or change in modulation type.The switch may be an indication in any frame or frame portion herein.Modulation types which support a switch may include: Wavelength DivisionMultiplexing (WDM); Pulse Width Modulation (PWM); Phase Shift Keying;Under-sampled Differential Phase Shift On-Off Keying (UDPSOOK); On-OffKeying (OOK); Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK), Color shift keying (CSK); Under-sampled Frequency ShiftOn-Off Keying (UFSOOK); Under-Sampled Quadrature Amplitude Modulationwith Subcarrier Modulation (UQAMSM); 16QAM; 64QAM; 128QAM; 256QAM;512QAM/1024QAM; 2048QAM; 4096QAM; Hybrid OOK-PWM; Spatially-ModulatedSpace-Time (SM-ST); Layered Space-Time Code (L-STC); Spatial-TemporalComplementary Frames (S-TCF); Pixel translucency modulation; SpatialDiscrete Multitone (SDMT). PDUs may indicate modulation scheme, transmitpower level, BSS color, direction, ranging parameters, CRC data format,MCS or other coding, bandwidth, phase, RAT version or power threshold ina preamble. Power level or threshold may be used by a receiver to set apower level (max or min) so to be configured to transmit concurrently. Anetwork may determine to switch to QAM modulation from anothermodulation and vice versa based on reporting/receiving a report of alevel of phase noise.

A UE may have or may be assigned a device identifier (ID) based on thedevices capabilities. The same may be true with a locator (LOC). In thisway, a subset of an IPv4, IPv6, or MAC address space may be utilized forUEs of a capability or capability group. A network may employ aID-to-LOC mapping, a LOC-to-ID(s) mapping system and a CAP-to-ID and/orCAP-to-LOC to identify a number of IDs or LOCs with which UEs exhibitinga particular capability are located. Core network nodes, base stations,UEs may all be capable of performing translation services. UEs may belocated in a RAN or RANs and one or more data networks (DNs). Requestsfor translation may be provided by any device disclosed herein.Responses including location information may be based on a network slicelocation.

UEs may be capable of communicating with servers using an edge computingor multi-access edge computing (MEC) configuration. These servers maysupply augmented and virtual reality images, video and otherapplications. Other servers may supply additional information which isprovided at low latency as the servers are closer to the UE than beingoutside a network. A UE may report a capability to support AR, VR and HDvideo over an internet multimedia subsystem (IMS).

In an embodiment, a MEC configuration may encompass distributedapplications running on entities which may not be trustworthy. At aminimum, at least one entity, for example, a UE may not trust a MECApplication while other UEs may have a trust policy in place. In anembodiment, a MEC application may not be collocated with data, thusforcing the MEC application to become trusted in an effort to obtain theinformation. A UE or MEC application may need to perform remoteattestation, i.e. verify the integrity of code (or script, for examplejavascript or java) running remotely. Additional cryptography may beneeded in the case where verified code is randomized, i.e. with a seedor other value. In an embodiment, a first UE may request that a secondUE assist in verifying the integrity of an application running on a MECapplication associated with or owned by the second UE. The second UE mayrequest the MEC application perform a hash function on some code segment(either while running or prior to running), and the second UE may passthe hash to the first UE for verification. If the first UE verifies thehash, i.e. the hash matches a stored hash or a hash received from atrusted third party, for example a trust anchor, then it can be assumedthat the MEC application may be trusted. In this way, by encryptingcontent provided between the first UE and the MEC application, thesecond UE may not interfere with or modify the encrypted content.

MEC application servers may be associated with satellites, blimps orother moving transmitters which may move in accordance to or with theirMEC application protocols or performance. For example, various AIlearning techniques may be employed here to move transmitters. As thesedevices move, they UEs they serve may change and those UEs may beinterconnected with one or more MEC application servers. Satellites maybroadcast information, via fixed or moving Earth beams, regarding theirtrajectory, movement, position, or the like and also they may suggest IPaddresses, or other handover mechanisms for which the UE may access anew MEC application server, for example, may receive data from, suchthat the UE will receive data from the nearest MEC server in relation tothe UE, satellite or the like. UE may request an IP address of a MECserver, from a satellite or gateway to the satellite, and may receive aresponse including a new IP Address or DNS information of the MEC serveror group of servers, or the like. Alternatively or in combination, theUE may report satellite measurements and receive the IP address inresponse. Satellite measurement taking and measurement reports may betimed based on altitude of a transmitter. For example, based on analtitude, there may be less or more frequent need for measurementreporting.

Networks (including UEs, base stations and the like) may operate invarious radio frequency bands. Among typical bands, including the ISMband, networks may operate in the 3.5 ghz band (between 2550 and 3700mhz). The 3.5 ghz band may be a band with which network devices need toperform carrier sense before transmitting. Carrier sense may beperformed based on radar or radar signatures in this band. Other bandsinclude the 2.4, 5 and 6 ghz bands. STAs may exchange a capability tosupport simultaneous band operation and scheduling. For example, an APmay indicate via a bitmap, that data is buffered for transmission over aplurality of different bands. This determination may be based on a STAsavailability to receive the data on these different bands. Some bandsmay be used for out-of-band type communication. Depending on band used,sub bands may be 20 mhz, 40 mhz, 80 mhz, 160 mhz, 320 mhz or 640 mhz orany combination.

In some instances, an AP or base station may configure a band or abandwidth in accordance with one or more STAs or UEs capabilities whichmay be reported on a default band. In this way, the AP may save power bydelaying until receipt of capabilities. An AP may operate a band in adirection only or in a plurality of directions but less than allpotential directions. This may serve different capability UEs indifferent directions. For example, UEs of a same power capability mayindicate preference to join a power capability group or may beinterested in forming a group (including other interested parameters,QoS, MCS capability, etc.) based on power ability. This group preferencemay be broadcasted with capability information.

STAs, for example, meter type STAs may enter and resume from power savemodes. Because meters communicate infrequently, it is important thatonly minimal bandwidth be allocated to them. Meters may be allowed tosleep until woken up. In some cases, a meter or other device may beinstructed to sleep or enter a power save mode in a DCI format or othercommunication. The DCI may also include wake up scheduling parameters,for example, a temporal key for use upon wake up, and what to do uponwake up. A meter may or may not wake up depending on whether it hasenough energy to wake up and make at least one transmission. Thedetermination may be made based on a battery level which may be chargedvia light (similar to a photovoltaic solar cell solar such as one foundin a calculator; a water meter may be powered by water pressure, or thelike).

A UE may also include a device under test, for example, duringmanufacture of the device. In this way, the UE may communicate with thetools used to build the device. UEs may be powered via wireless chargersprovided by the manufacturer or a different manufacturer (having a samemanufacturer ID or different manufacturer ID) and may employ datacommunication services via the wireless doc.

A UE may be capable of receiving sidelink or V2X type transmissions fromother vehicles, relays and base stations simultaneously in a coordinatedfashion. For example, a same transmission may be received from anothervehicle, a relay and a BS at once. Relay transmissions may employ timeor frequency diversity. For example, a frame may be transmitted onmultiple bands or may be duplexed or repeated over the multiple bands.In other examples, a UE may receive data in a broadcast or multicastfashion. For example, the vehicle may receive traffic information in abroadcast format when the traffic information apples to a largegeographic area and in a multicast format when the information appliesto a smaller area for which the vehicle is located within. The areasizes may change depending on the level of congestion or trafficreported. If a number of vehicles are located in a given area, e.g. athreshold is met, that information may be provided to a larger area thaninitially reported. HARQ feedback may or may not be provided in responseto the traffic information. HARQ transmissions or feedback may betransmitted concurrently with data, with control information, forexample scheduled by one or both of DCI formats 5_0, 5_1, or with otherHARQ transmissions or feedback, in an embodiment, over alternativechannels, links or bands. STAs and UEs may be capably of ARQ or HARQ andmay report the capability to networks and other STAs. Depending on apriority or amount of information being acknowledged, HARQ may operateon a PDU, MPDU basis, aggregated frame basis, codeword basis, symbolbasis or the like. Frames may be aggregated in MAC Management ProtocolData Unit (MMPDUs) or other PDUs.

For notifying a UE of a multicast (or broadcast) data, a multicast RNTImay be used which corresponds to the multicast group. A DCI format maybe provided on a control channel, for example, a PDCCH channel to signalresource information, via a DCI 6_0 or 6_1 control format, for themulticast messages. These DCI formats may include other information. Theresource information may be periodic in nature and may specify multipledownlink shared channel (DSCH) resources over time in a periodic method.

In an embodiment, a DCI may be received from one, two or more basestations for scheduling uplink or downlink transmissions to or fromthose base stations or other base stations. A UE may have a capabilityto support simultaneous DCI reception from multiple base stations. A DCImay schedule a variable number of fields which correspond to the numberof base stations indicated. For example, if there are two schedulingbase stations, then the DCI may have two MCS fields, two power controlfields and the like. If there MCS or power is expected to be the samefor both cells, then the UE may implicitly derive the MCS, power or anyother parameter herein from the notion that only one field is providedto the UE. In another embodiment, if some parameters are not changingoften enough, some parameters may be provided for a first one of thebase stations in a first grant and a subset of those parameters in afollowing grant. Thus, the parameters in the DCI may vary in presenceand in length. The field may implicitly indicate a parameters of onebase station as opposed to another in terms of frequency, time, oranother parameter in which the UE can derive a scheduling base stationfrom.

In an example, a Boolean field may specify whether a DCI schedules twoPDSCHs over two cells or whether the DCI schedules one PDSCH over twocells.

System information provided by a base station may indicate support for1024QAM and/or 2048QAM. The UE may determine to access the base stationdue to the support for either modulation format. In an example, anindication to support a modulation method may be provided based on UEposition, for example, whether or not the base station is an indoor basestation serving UEs inside a same location. In an embodiment, the basestation may broadcast a beamforming capability. Based on a threshold forbeamforming, the UE may determine that the base station supports aparticular modulation format or type. An AP may beamform STAs within alocal BSS or may beamform STAs within another BSS. Alternatively, an APmay transmit null messages to the STAs in the another BSS. In anembodiment, an AP may be an element of multiple BSSs. Beamformingrefinement procedures may be performed, for example, using timesequenced beam forming refinement transmission and receive procedures.

A UEs position may be determined via transmission and reception of radiosignals. In an embodiment, one transmitter(s) may physically collocatedor may not be collocated with one or more receiver(s) of the signal.Transmitter and receivers may need to exchange a capability of detectingor transmitting position detecting, orientation detecting, presence in aroom, or other detection capabilities. The object being detected may ormay not also have or be coupled to a transmitter/receiver. For example,capabilities may include an ability to wake a radio component or othercomponent upon detecting presence of an object. Other capabilities mayinclude gesture recognition capabilities. In an embodiment, a UE maydetect gestures which would typically be performed via touchscreen. Forexample, a tapping gesture, swiping gesture or the like may be betterperformed via radio control or manipulation. Gestures may be detectedvia audio, video or other recognition methods. Transmissions may be madein response to a detected gesture. Gestures may be classified by neuralnetworks or other methods. In an embodiment, tapping on a surface ofwhich a UE is on may cause the UE to perform an action.

FIG. 8(a) illustrates a timing diagram for receiving a RACH occasionbitmap. A UE 802 may report 806 to a gNB 804 that it is enteringinactive state. In the message, the UE may include a periodicity anddata size for which the UE may report periodic small messages. In thisway, the UE need not enter a connected state to transmit data. The UEmay also reduce a number of transmit antennas in the INACTIVE state. Inresponse to the suggestion to go inactive, the gNB may provide a RACHoccasion bitmap 808 which indicates RACH occasions for subsequenttransmission of small data. The UE may transmit at each occasion 810-816until there are no more occasions remaining in the bitmap. At whichpoint, the UE may renegotiate by providing a new message indicatingperiodicity and data size or the gNB may simply provide a new bitmap 818given the likelihood of the UE continuing with the periodictransmissions. Periodic transmissions may be integrity protected usingkeys exchanged prior to the going inactive message. In another example,the RACH occasion bitmap response may comprise an encryption key orintegrity protection key for the subsequent periodic messagetransmissions.

FIG. 8(b) is a flowchart 820 for providing information to a UE. A gNBmay determine 822 whether a periodicity and data size is or can besupported 824 based on network congestion, the UE location or position,a UE mobility state (for example, PLMN mobile, handover betweenterrestrial and non-terrestrial), CSI, supported MCS, etc. If therequest is supportable, the gNB may provide 828 an indication of suchand a bitmap in a same or different message. If not, the gNB may suggest826 a periodicity and data size which can be supported by the gNB andnetwork.

Congestion may be analyzed based on throughput, packet delay, sendingrate, buffer status or the like. UEs and STAs may coordinate congestionprotocols and parameters, using sidelink or other technologies, so as toreach a network throughput maximum in a fair manner. For example, STAsmay negotiate congestion window parameters, may provide an indication ofreceived acknowledgements over a time interval or alternatively, theseparameters may be coordinated by an AP or TRP. STAs may provide apriority indication of buffered traffic so as to adjust congestionparameters.

Congestion parameters may be correlated to priority, for example, acongestion window may be used per priority and/or per one or morelink(s) of a STA. A single bit or multi-bit indicator may be employed ina PDU or frame to indicate whether or not transmission/reception points,routers (including switches, other nodes, and forwarding devices), adhoc STAs or other devices should adjust congestion windows. For example,a single bit indicator provided in a frame may indicate to a recipientwhether or not the sender is increasing or decreasing the congestionwindow and thus the recipient should expect another packet immediatelyfollowing. With a multi-bit indicator, the window may be adjusted so asto either receive a plurality of frames immediately following or todelay transmission for a given period. The period may be calculatedbased on the value of the multi-bit indicator. For example, based on theMCS, number of links, link quality, etc. STAs which receive the frameincluding the multi-bit indicator may determine a number of frames whichmay follow. In an embodiment, if a multi-bit indicator indicates that noframe will immediately follow the frame which includes the multi-bitindicator, 3rd party receiving STAs may determine that the medium willbe available shortly and for some duration. If the multi-bit indicatorindicates that the congestion window shall open up, then a 3rd partyreceiving STA may determine that a transmission opportunity on one ormore link(s) will not be available for a duration. The 3rd party STA maysend an RTS on another link, another channel, for example, using anotherone or more beams or the like. A receiver of the single bit or multi bitindicator may sum the indicators to determine a window size adjustment.Packets may be marked with an indicator in a preamble, midable or data(for example payload) portion.

In Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), a universal signal field is proposed. The u-sigcomprises a release version independent portion followed by a releaseversion dependent portion. The independent portion conveys informationwhich all receivers should interpret, while the dependent portionconveys information according to the release. Because this u-sig fieldis designed to support encoding information for future releases, theremay be additional padded information at the beginning, middle or end ofeach field. A U-SIG field or other SIG field may comprise any field ordata structure or type disclosed herein.

FIG. 9 demonstrates that a portion of each U-SIG field transmitting in aplurality of frames may be buffered to form a larger data block. FIG. 9shows two U-SIG fields 900, 902 received sequentially. A receiver maysave bits of a potential padded region 904, 906 of U-SIG 900 andportions 908, 910 of U-SIG 902 to form a data block 912. AdditionalU-SIG portions may be appended onto data block 912 to form a larger datablock.

Broadcast announcements may be used for indicating desired capabilitiesof coordinator (i.e. transmitter of the broadcast announcement) anddesired capabilities of other APs/STAs to form a multiple access pointcandidate set. The multiple access point candidate set may also includeAPs of varying protocol/release versions. For example, the announcementmay comprise a release indicator indicating a release indicator of X,below X and/or above X. In this way, release indicator may specify atleast some minimum capability to join the candidate set.

Alternatively or in combination, unicast requests may be sent. Theunicast requests may be sent in various directions and/or on differentfrequencies and time instances. The unicast requests may also compriserelease indicator and desired capabilities.

Each transmission may indicate resources, for example, time/frequencyresources for a response transmission. These resources may bescheduled/coordinated ahead of time via negotiation. Requests may alsorequest specifically simultaneous transmit receive APs respond or thatnon-simultaneous transmit receive APs join the group.

An AP which transmits a frame to another AP, STA or group thereof maynot necessarily be a coordinator AP who formed the group. Rather any APor STA within the group may initiate a transmission among the group.When forming a group of APs for multi-AP data delivery to STAs (or otherAPs), a coordinating AP may define a number of potential APs with whichto form the group. For example, if the coordinator requires 2 APs, andprefers capabilities above Y (among X, Y and Z capabilities), thecoordinator may indicate capability and number of APs in a broadcastmessage. Assuming there are 2 Y capable APs in range of the broadcastmessage, both may respond on same resources. However if there is 1 Ycapable device and 1 X capable device, the 1 Y device may respond on afirst in time resource, while the 1 X device responds at a later timeinstant. In this way, The X device may determine that less than 2capable devices responded and thus should also indicate availability.However, if the X capable device hears that 2 Y capable devices haveresponded, there is no need for the X capable device to respond. Thismay be enabled due to each device understanding the U-SIG fieldindicating release version.

A release version may indicate a maximum capability supported by an AP.In this way, for example, if a STA is associated with two APs, andreceives frames from both APs, the STA may respond to both APs with aframe indicative of a minimum of the two release versions. This way bothAPs may successfully receive a frame transmitted to both APs.

A STA may request APs of a given capability form a group. The STA maybroadcast a message indicating BSSID, link parameters of the AP, QoSrequirements, STA capability, group capability etc. The request may belooking for an already formed group of APs, or to indicate to the APsthat they will need to form a group.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart for group transmission. In anembodiment, a STA or AP may perform sensing 1002 to decode releaseversion identifiers of PPDU preambles. Information corresponding to therelease version identifiers, MAC addresses, receive power informationand directions of PPDUs may be determined 1004. Whether to initiate 1006group formation based on stored information may be determined. Broadcastgroup formation information may be determined 1008 based on the storedinformation. A lead STA may be negotiated 1010 based on CSI computationperformed with an AP or other STA. If a devices is determined to be alead 1012, buffer status information may be collected 1014 from thegroup. A joint BSR may be transmitted 1016 and a trigger received 1018.Group data may be sent 1020 in parallel with group members.

STAs and APs may perform sensing to discover nearby devices. In anembodiment, sensing may comprise decode release version identifiers ofsingle user or multi user PDU preambles. Tables may be used to storeinformation corresponding to the release version identifiers, MACaddresses, receive power information and directions of received PDUs.Also, neighbor reports may be used to correlate information andascertain information about devices. Sensing may be performed over atime period signaled by another device, for example, an AP device.Sensing may be based on a parameter reaching a threshold, for example,any parameter disclosed herein. The threshold may be standardized or maybe signaled by another device. The threshold may vary based on one ormore other parameters.

Devices may determine whether to initiate group formation based on thestored information. For example, if discovering that a threshold numberof devices are within range and have a minimum release version or othercapability, a group may be formed. Otherwise, group formation may not beworthwhile. An AP may specify a message indicating a device capabilityand parameter(s) useful for determining group formation. For example,parameters may include signal strength parameters, capability, devicetype, device movement and/or position among others. In an embodiment,the AP may be an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which groups the devicesinto 3 dimensional clusters (or two dimensional clusters) for jointtransmission to the group and joint reception from the devices of thegroup. UAVs may implement a wireless backhaul and may negotiate powercontrol parameters and other transmission parameters. Groups of groundunits may be formed based on interference, for example, mobile deviceswhich experience a high degree of interferences may or may not begrouped together.

STAs which are preliminary determined to participate in a group maybegin receiving broadcast or unicast group formation messages from otherSTAs. Based on a capability and/or desire to do so, device may transmitbroadcast group formation messages. In an embodiment, group formationmessages may be transmitted using incremental power so as toincrementally form a group of a given size/distance.

STAs may perform CSI and sounding protocols either individually orjointly with an AP, if the AP is within range, to determine a candidatefor leading the group. Alternatively, there may be no lead group memberand each group member may be on equal footing.

If there is a lead group member to be determine, the STAs may negotiatethe lead STA based on CSI computation performed with AP. The AP mayperform a sounding procedure by transmitting sounding information, forexample, a sounding schedule, NDP or the like. STAs may respondsequentially or at the same time to the AP. Alternatively, STAs mayshare their CSI computation among the group, and the group member with abest channel state may report the CSI for the group members.

The group may transmit a joint BSR to AP. A trigger frame may bereceived in response to the BSR. Data transmissions/receptions may beperformed simultaneously on same frequency/time resources byimplementing group based successive interference cancellation. For STAswhich have determined to not form a group of STAs, these STAs mayperform SIC and may simultaneously transmit, while group membersthemselves are non-STR compliant when a member of the group.Simultaneous transmissions may be multi-AP transmissions, for example,multiple distinct APs, or multiple APs within a same and/or other AP.

In an embodiment, instead of padding transmission portions, atransmitter may encode brief information which may not changefrequently. The receiver may maintain a buffer, for example, a circularbuffer or other buffer, which stores the additional information to forma larger group of data bits which represent higher layer information orother information. The information may be used to determine anyparameter or data type herein. For example, the information may indicatefeedback information (how well a transmitter, beam, modulation, etc isoperating) or other suggestions to the receiver. In an embodiment,instead of forming a buffer, a receiver may perform a logical operation,for example, an AND, OR, XOR on one two or more portions of eachreceived frame to obtain additional information. A look up table may beemployed as well.

An indicator of beam support may be provided by a UE or gNB. Forexample, a UE may support corresponding beams or non-correspondingbeams, for example without having to perform sweeping. The indicator mayspecify one or more of: MU-MIMO; multi-TRP; multi-panel; N4: ULMIMO/coverage; or beam management mode. A UE may support panel switchingin accordance with panels of the UE or a TRP.

UE capability may indicate that not all beams may be usable. In oneembodiment, a UE may compute effective (or equivalent) isotropicradiated power (EIRP) or a delta or change thereof. A UE may transmit anidentifier which indicates a multi-panel configuration. Sweepingprocedures may be performed on multiple TRPs, multiple cells, multiplelayers and the like, for example transmit sector sweeps and receivesector sweeps. In one embodiment, a number of beams used may increase onan increasing scale. For example, x beams may be used for a 450 mhz to 6ghz band, 2x beams used between 6 ghz and 24 ghz, 3x beams used between24 ghz and 52.6 ghz, 4x beams used between 52.6 ghz and 114.25 ghz, 5xbeams used between 114.25 ghz and 275 ghz. Higher frequency bands, forexample, 52.6-114.25 ghz and above may be used for sidelinkcommunication while other bands are infrastructure based. A multi-panelconfigured UE may activate panels upon movement of the UE, for example,via an accelerometer, via measurement taking or via network signaling.

A DCI may indicate multiple-TRP information in a multi-panel or multipleTRP use case. For example, the DCI may indicate a number of layerstransmitted per panel and may also indicate a panel ID. Panelinformation including ID and the like can alternatively be signaled inRRC signaling.

A UE or gNB may detect a beam failure and a recovery procedure may benecessary. In one embodiment, beam recovery may be initiated by a timer.The same may be true for radio link failure. This would allow the UE toutilize a contention free period in which the UE may recover a beam. TheUE may attempt to use preconfigured RACH resources to recover a beam.The subset of resources available for beam recovery may be greater thanor less than the resources initially provided for initial or randomaccess. In one embodiment, the beam recovery timer may be incrementedupon successive failure attempts. In yet another beam recoveryembodiment, upon beam failure, a UE may utilize a secondary cell oranother cell, for example a WLAN cell, to signal to a PCell a requestfor resource(s) to perform a beam recovery procedure. The failedcell/beam may be indicated or conveyed to the base station. Theresources may be signaled through the WLAN or other cell. During a beamfailure, a UE may determine that it may need to perform random access toacquire a new timing advance and resource grant. The UE may thentransmit on the resource grant. The UE may use the RACH to transmitinformation as to the cell (PCell, SCell) and an index or bitmapcorresponding to the failed beams. The UE may also use higher layersignaling if possible, for example MAC signaling.

A UE and base station may negotiate a number of monitored PDCCHcandidates and number of non-overlapped CCEs per slot/serving cell. Thismay limit the number of blind decodes. In an embodiment, a UE mayprovide the base station with capability information for the basestation to configure the UE with candidate information. For example, aUE may provide the base station a requested number of monitored PDCCHcandidates and number of non-overlapped CCEs per slot/serving cell. Abase station may respond with a response and indicating an establishednumber. The response may indicate a delay period for which the UE mustdelay before transmitting another request. In an embodiment, theresponse may be final, for example, not able to be renegotiated untilafter an event occurs. In an embodiment, a request may be provided bythe base station and a response may be made by the UE. The response maybe derived based on capability of the UE. The request/response pair maynegotiate other aspects, for example, location of PDCCH monitoringoccasions, minimum or maximum DCI format sizes or types and/or specificDCI formats for which the UE wishes to receive or avoid. A binaryindicator may signal a set or subsets of DCI formats.

In an embodiment, a UE may be provided with an index into a table orbitmap which indicates a resource for use in a time or frequency manner.The same table or bitmap may indicate a MCS or beam (via the indexspecified via DCI). The table or bitmap (indicating symbols, slots,transport blocks or the like) may be scheduled in advance via MAC, RRCetc or may be included in a DCI. In one embodiment, the table may be viaa SIB. A DCI may indicate implicitly, as an offset of the DCI itself orany parameter included within, another scheduling parameter, be thattime/frequency/resource/beam or the like. For example, RRC may schedulegroups of resources which can or cannot be used for URLLC and a DCI mayindicate one or more of the groups.

Scheduling transmissions or notification transmissions, for example,transmissions that notify spatial use or future spatial occupancy. Async frame may be transmitted by a transmitter, for example, STA, AP,base station or the like that notifies spatial use, for example,notifies transmission direction, power, transmitter, receiver,transmission type or the like. The notification frame may be anotification indicative of a transmission of two other devices. Forexample, an AP may schedule one or more transmissions of two STAs whichare in a same BSS or an AP may schedule transmissions for STAs which arenot in a same BSS. In an example, an AP may schedule a coordinatedtransmission, for example, a transmission from one device to a pluralityof other devices. Alternatively a transmission may be scheduled from aplurality of devices to a single AP or other device. In this way,spatial use may be optimized. The scheduling transmission may be abroadcast transmission with a broadcast identifier. The schedulingtransmission may be transmitted using a beam predetermined based on alocation of known or unknown STAs. There may be a duration indicated inthe scheduling transmission to inform STAs of a transmission duration. Ascheduling transmission may schedule a period of time foracknowledgement transmission. The scheduling transmission may alsoinclude trigger information, for example, transmissiontime/frequency/space information, which indicates resources for data orack transmission. The scheduling transmission may indicatetime/space/frequency information for ACKs, or block ACKs or multi-stablock acks which are on different time/frequency/space resources. Thesedifferent time/frequency/space resources for data or ACK transmissionsmay need to be estimated based on a STA or other device movement. Thus,an AP may transmit the scheduling frame, hear the data frame thatfollows and then send an updated scheduling frame or short schedulingframe so as to update other STAs of the next ACK frame that may follow.An initial scheduling frame may include counter that changes each time ascheduling frame is transmitted. This way, a receiving STA which ismobile may not receive each scheduling frame, but may maintain a tableor database over time indicative of where other STAs are located, priorMCS values, etc and may update this table accordingly. The counter maywrap around once a predetermined value is exceeded. The counter may beused to update the different channel state or channel quality valuesreceived by scheduling transmissions. Scheduling transmissions may beappended to beacon or other frames transmitted by an AP.

A MIMO compliant UE might use multiple beams to search for the TRP, eachbeam tailored to a slightly different frequency. A best case could be anideal frequency all the way up to a threshold for a worse Doppler shiftquantity. In this way, regardless of the Doppler shift, a UE may detecta TRP transmission in one (or more) time periods. Alternatively, Dopplershift may be determined based on information received from another cell(or based on a transmission of another cell).

Synchronization signals may include a primary synchronization signal anda secondary synchronization signal. These signals may be transmitted atdifferent times and may indicate different portions of a variable lengthidentifier of a base station, gNB, TRP etc. They may also be transmittedwith different power levels from each other or from other signals. Forexample, the PSS or SSS may be transmitted at a different power levelthan the PBCH. It may be that the PSS, SSS and/or PBCH are eachbeamformed and/or transmitted in a sweeping manner. Other signals mayalso be swept either in uplink or downlink. The UE may receive the PSS,SSS and/or PBCH on a plurality of beams and determine which beam isstrongest. PBCH may carry a master information block and/or secondaryinformation block, i.e. a system information block (SIB). PBCH may betransmitted at a lower power level than SS (or vice versa). A pluralityof PBCHs (or PDSCHs, PDCCHs, PUSCHs, PUCCHs) may be transmitted by a gNB(or a UE) which may overlap in time, frequency or beam. In oneembodiment, a gNB may or may not vary a DMRS sequence index for eachtransmission.

Network topologies may include coordinated transmission topologies orjoint transmission topologies. Transmissions/receptions may be madesimultaneously by a plurality of APs, a plurality of STAs, a pluralityof UEs, a plurality of gNBs or base stations or the like, for example,if an RSRP of transmissions from the group of transmitters is greaterthan transmissions from one or the other. Availability and schedulingfor simultaneous transmission, overlapping transmissions or individualtransmissions may be coordinated by a controller which operates on apublish/subscribe model via pub/sub messages. Controller may relayinformation on any information element described herein. Parameters maybe provided and requested alternatively or in combination. Each AP maysubscribe and thus receive information for use. Some APs of the set maybe configured to operate on a 320 mhz bandwidth while other APs may beconfigured to operate on a 160 mhz band. Channels may be aggregated toreach these bandwidths. Transmissions may be coordinated by sending NDPsby an AP or STA to another BSS and receiving sounding responses. If aresponse is positive, i.e. above a threshold, the AP or STA who sent theNDP may not send transmissions in that direction (using the same beam)in future transmissions to the BSS of which the AP or STA is a member.This information, including the location, selected beam, transmissiontime and feedback quantity/type/results may be shared among APs andamong STAs. A responder of the NDP may broadcast the feedback tomultiple BSSs when the NDP indicates to do so.

Determining whether BSSs or TRPs overlap with one another may be basedon an overlapping basic service set threshold or overlappingtransmission reception point threshold for a UE and STA, base station orthe like. The threshold may be set based on traffic load or averagepriority of data transmitted in the other BSS (OBSS) or the determiningBSS. For example, an overlap may threshold may be lower if there arefewer devices than a threshold in the BSS. The threshold may be setbased on station location in the OSS. Thresholds may be determined viabroadcast messaging transmitted by the OSS and relayed or initiated bySTAs of the OBSS. An overlapping threshold may be based on multiplethresholds determined via multiple devices. A starting count downcounter from maximum distance/maximum power to lower distance/lowerpower may be used. Transmissions may be avoided based on thresholdcounter or threshold.

gNBs may be logically and physically separated into a distributed unit(DU), i.e. the radio portion and a Centralized Unit (CU) which may beseparately located. The CU may be virtualized and may in instantiatedupon necessary. A cable modem may be used for front haul. A cable modemmay interface with a DU or CU or both. Either the DU or CU may implementor perform: PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP or RRC layer processing depending on aprocessing split type.

When UEs on a train enter a new cell, the UEs need to perform handoverat a same time on a same cell. This may limit performance. In oneembodiment, a train may signal to each UE of the train, random accessparameters for example, a preamble such that each UE has a uniquepreamble or subset of preambles to use for random access. In this way, aground based base station is not bombarded by handover devices. Thetrain may signal the preambles or subset thereof via a mountedtransmission/reception point which has circuitry dedicated for thispurpose. The signaling may be cellular signaling or wireless local areanetwork signaling. The signaling may be on frequencies dedicated fortrain communication and thus may only be used by the UEs in thisscenario.

Train safety measures may include red light signal RF transmission, viadirectional RF transmission and via broadcast for other trains; dual rfand track based transmission; conductivity checking over a track segmentahead, for example, a bridged section; ensuring that brakes are appliedto a correct train; confirmation of brake application/engagement and RFreception of said confirmation of brake engagement; per wheel/per traincar derailment detection and broadcast notification, for example, in a5.9 GHz band; train segment attachment detachment determination; remotedisplay of all trains and train cars engaged/connected to network; radiosignaling of hazardous materials, for example, explosive materials; adata recorder may be configured to intercept, record, and may providePHY, MAC or higher layer signaling to train, from train, or the like;and data transmission of door open events, door close events, traindeparture events, and train arrival events. The 5.9 GHz band may beapplicable for any train type communication.

Train communication overload may occur when multiple trains pass througha radio cell termination, for example, at a point of handover. Eachtrain may have it's own RF transceivers plus the train may be carryingmany passengers. Thus, it may be preferable to prioritize transmissions,such as control transmissions, data transmission, RACH transmissions ofthe train equipment over user equipment. The opposite may also be true,for example, for high priority UE transmissions such as emergency eventtransmissions of UEs. A UE may be configured to not transmit data whenthe UE is known to be on a train which needs to perform RACH. The trainmay broadcast delay information to UEs for RACH. The UE may receive aRACH transmission pool or a limited RACH transmission schedule via sibor via the train. UEs/STAs may also receive pools for coordination andbroadcast resource scheduling.

Trains may be configured to share RF and act as relays for UEs. This mayoccur via satellite or other means. Trains may be configured to slowdown in hazardous areas which may be more risky than other areas. Trainsmay employ derailment sensors for determining whether brakes need to beapplied or if the train should be slowed. Wind sensors, snow/icesensors, and other sensors may be employed. Power loss events, forexample, power loss events from a main battery system or other powersources may cause train operation to change, for example, to slow.Notifications may be transmitted to UEs and/or to ground basedreceivers. A TRP, for example, a base station may provide a neighborreport which indicates neighbor TRPs that are generally accessible byother UEs in range of the reporting TRP. For example, a TRP may be asshown in the table below.

TABLE 1 Neighbor Neighbor Neighbor Neighbor Neighbor Neighbor NeighborNeighbor A B C D E F G H Type UAV satellite terrestrial Blimp SatelliteTerrestrial Indoor Airplane WLAN AP Distance 30 1125 400 1300 4 km 80045 13 km (relative meters meters meters meters meters meters position)Altitude 7k 35,000k 400 17k 24,000k 10 3 10k meters meters meters metersmeters meters meters meters QoS Voice Video 8k Low 4k video Voice MediumSMS supported video priority priority + only only low priority Multi- XChannels Y Bands No additional Same as A bands B Channels . . . . . .band supported supported bands neighbor unsupported unsupported supportsupported A Admission Failover No admit Band User QoS Power ProtocolLatency Control only control based based based based based based typeNumber of No supported 2 4 8 No supported 1 5 9 supported data channelsdata channels data channels other than other than primary primarychannel channel Bitmap 2, high, 4, med, 8, low, 4, med, 2, med, 1, high,2, med, 2, low, <Number of max underloaded max available max empty emptymax links, Link capacity capacity capacity capacity quality, load>Awake? Not Awake Awake Not Awake Awake Not unknown awake awake awake

In the table above, QoS support may be based on a QoS support tagginglevel. The level may relate to a number of QoS levels or number of bitsapplied, or the like. Additional parameters may include a timing advance(course, medium, fine) for each neighbor relative to the transmittingTRP; a congestion level, a multiplier for TA, a number of bits neededfor a TA, Doppler shift, supported PRACH formats, traveling speed or thelike. TRPs may broadcast or transmit system information of another TRPusing broadcast SIBs or on demand SIBs. Satellite coverage areas may bedenoted, for example, using satellite identifiers, using synchronizationsignals or by using other methods to denote identifier(s).

When a gNB transmit SIBs in release 15, the SIBs are only applicable fora certain cell within a given area. This means that multiple gNBs aretransmitting potentially same information in the same area. In anembodiment, a SIB1 message may indicate scheduling information for othergNBs in the area. The scheduling information may allow UEs to receiveother SIBs of the other gNBs without having to obtain a SIB1 from theother gNBs. A SIB1 message may be modified as:

SIB1 message  -- ASN1START  -- TAG-SIB1-START  SIB1 ::= SEQUENCE {  cellSelectionInfo SEQUENCE {    q-RxLevMin  Q-RxLevMin,   q-RxLevMinOffset INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need S    q-RxLevMinSULQ-RxLevMin  OPTIONAL, -- Need R    q-QualMin  Q-QualMin   OPTIONAL, --Need S    q-QualMinOffset   INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL -- Need S   } OPTIONAL, -- Cond Standalone   cellAccessRelatedInfo CellAccessRelatedInfo,   connEstFailureControl   ConnEstFailureControlOPTIONAL,-- Need R   si-SchedulingInfoPrimary SI-SchedulingInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need R  si-SchedulingInfoSecondaryA SI-SchedulingInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need R  si-SchedulingInfoSecondaryB SI-SchedulingInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need R  si-SchedulingInfoSecondaryC SI-SchedulingInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need R   servingCellConfigCommon ServingCellConfigCommonSIB OPTIONAL, -- Need R   ims-EmergencySupport ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R   eCallOverIMS-Support ENUMERATED{true}OPTIONAL,-- Cond Absent   AugRealOverIMS-Support   ENUMERATED{true}OPTIONAL,-- Cond Absent   VirRealOverIMS-Support   ENUMERATED{true}OPTIONAL,-- Cond Absent   HDvideoOverIMS-Support   ENUMERATED{true}OPTIONAL,-- Cond Absent   ue-TimersAndConstants UE-TimersAndConstants OPTIONAL,-- Need R   uac-BarringInfo  SEQUENCE {   uac-BarringForCommon   UAC-BarringPerCatList  OPTIONAL, -- Need S   uac-BarringPerPLMN-List UAC-BarringPerPLMN-List OPTIONAL, -- Need S   uac-BarringInfoSetList UAC-BarringInfoSetList,   uac-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo CHOICE {     plmnCommon UAC-AccessCategory1-   SelectionAssistanceInfo,     individualPLMNList SEQUENCE (SIZE (2..maxPLMN)) OF UAC-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo    }  OPTIONAL -- Need S  }  OPTIONAL,-- Need R   useFullResumeID  ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,-- Need N   lateNonCriticalExtension   OCTET STRING  OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension  SEQUENCE{ } OPTIONAL  } UAC-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo ::=  ENUMERATED {a, b, c} -- TAG-SIB1-STOP  -- ASN1STOP

In this way, scheduling information may be provided for SI of othergNBs, for example, secondary A, secondary B, and secondary C gNBs. Whena gNB updates SI, it may provide SI information to the gNBs within thearea over the wireless link or over a wired backhaul interface. In somecases backhaul messages may be time synchronized and/or time critical.The gNBs may negotiate via messaging which SIBs of all SIBs toperiodically broadcast by which gNB. For example, if there are 9 SIBs tobe broadcast within an area including three gNBs, an order might be asfollows:

TABLE 2 gNB1: SIB1, SIB2, gNB1: SIB4, SIB5, gNB1: SIB7, SIB8, SIB3 SIB6SIB9 gNB2: SIB4, SIB5, gNB2: SIB7, SIB8, gNB2: SIB1, SIB2, SIB6 SIB9SIB3 gNB3: SIB7, SIB8, gNB3: SIB1, SIB2, gNB3: SIB4, SIB5, SIB9 SIB3SIB6

In this way, SIBs are iterated such that over three different timeintervals all 9 sibs are transmitted by all three gNBs, however, no gNBtransmits all SIBS in a single time window or interval. If the UE isinterested in additional SIBs, for example, SIBs that are notbroadcasted by a gNB, the gNB may request those SIBs using a bitmap,array or other means when the UE is in INACTIVE, CONNECTED mode or inanother mode. The UE may use a random access procedure to request theadditional SIBs or MAC or RRC signaling may be used instead. SIBs mayprovide information for selecting, by a UE, transmit beam parameters forsingle or multiple panel operation by one or more of the plurality ofgNBs within an area.

Header formats may be used to distinguish different versions of 802.11transceivers, for example, EHT, VHT, HT etc. For example, in order todifferentiate a frame from an 11ax frame, the frame may have a headercomprising an RL-sig field which is not a direct (i.e. verbatim) repeatof an L-sig field. For example, an RL-sig may be computed as: L-sig XORL-sig, L-sig logical or ‘1’ sting, L-sig xor ‘0’ string, L-sig xor STAID, L-sig XOR group ID; L-sig XOR format specific to an 802.11 release.XOR may be replaced with a sum, subtraction, multiplicator, division ofthe above mentioned fields. A fixed number of bits may be simplyflipped, for example, flipping of first bit in L-sig. Header format mayimplicitly or explicitly indicate bandwidth, number of users, number ofspatial streams, harq parameters (whether or not HARQ is supported),whether or not HARQ is supported by all relays, etc. Headers may spanmultiple channels, for example, 10, 20, 40, 80 mhz channels etc in whichone or more fields are duplicated or spread in frequency. Fields maycomprise same or different information over the channel(s). Fields maybe modulated according to and MCS disclosed herein. STAs or otherdevices may switch channels based on capability, support or channeloccupancy of other STAs. Any field, message, data structure or parameterdisclosed herein may be either a fixed or variable format or length. ABoolean value may specify whether fixed or variable. If variable, anumber of fields or a length field may be included to signal the lengthor size of a message or other field in a message of one or more layersof a network stack. Elements in a message may be variable in size, forexample, with an indicator used to note a length, duration or number ofbits. Subelements within variable size elements may be fixed orvariable.

Mesh or other frames may preferably employ encrypted header formats. In802.11-2016, header formats are not necessarily encrypted.

FIG. 11 illustrates a frame 1100 having a encrypted address fieldsaddress 1 to address 4 1102-1108 in a MAC header 1110. A payload portion1112 may be encrypted.

Initially, unencrypted MAC headers may be used with frames that seek toestablish a security agreement, for example, one in which a shared keyagreement is employed. Frames may be duplicated, for example, in time orin frequency (different frequencies or bands). Subsequently, eachaddress of a MAC header may be transmitted over the air such that theaddress is XORed with a key derived from the private key. In this way,not only is the frame body encrypted (using prior art means), but theaddressed may also be hidden from potential observers. The same may betrue for the FCS sequence; this may be XORed with the key derived fromthe secret key. In an embodiment, a duration field would not beencrypted, thus STAs which receive the frame may set their NAVaccordingly.

NAV setting may occur on a channel by channel basis. For example, awireless device may broadcast NAV setting information on multiplechannels, of multiple links. For example, NAV setting information may betransmitted on a primary channel of each link. NAV setting informationmay be omitted, however, on another link when the NAV informationbecomes stale.

FIG. 12 illustrates a plurality of NAV setting examples. In an example1200 a CTS 1206 is transmitted to indicate a NAV setting operation oflink 1 1202, via a duration field in the CTS 1206. The AP shares 1208the NAV setting information of link 1 1202 on link 2 1204. This maycause a sharing delay. Because the NAV setting transmission of link 1exceeds the sharing delay, there is remaining NAV 1210.

In another example 1230, a CTS 1236 may be transmitted and if the NAVsetting of link 1 1232 is made longer than the sharing delay of amessage 1238 transmitted on link 2 1234, there may be no sharing delayconcern, however, there may still be a need to share the NAV settinginformation of link 1.

At another example 1260, the sharing delay may be shortened by modifyingthe header of a PDU that follows 1268 on link 2 1264. In this way, thesharing delay is reduced as the PDU only becomes somewhat longer toaccommodate for additional header duration information of the link 11262 NAV. This header information could be read, and a NAV set, allwhile subsequently processing the PDU 1268 being received on link 21264. The header of the PDU 1268 on link 2 1264 may include a variablelength field or variable number of duration fields, each correspondingto a duration of a particular link. The number of duration fields maycorrespond to a number of links the STA is configured to monitor.

If a wireless bridge, hub or repeater is employed, the bridge, hub orrepeater may or may not need to know the secret key. The frame may alsobe transmitted in accordance with the secret key, for example, onfrequencies and/or at times which are based on the secret key or aderivation thereof.

The secret key may be provided or derived via 3gpp type access from acellular core network. In this way, the UE may maintain multi-access PDUsession(s) with the 3gpp access network and a WLAN network such thatit's MAC address remains hidden and/or MAC addresses of the WLAN APs androuting elements remain hidden. Traffic steering on the WLAN may beavailable when the addresses are configured to be hidden.

Some APs, STAs and relay nodes may be inherently trusted or may beverified with or without the use of a 3rd party signature. Signaturepairing may be based on one or more MAC address of an AP, STA or relaynode. For example a signature may be based on a plurality of MACaddresses of an AP, STA or relay node. Signatures may be based onassociation ID. STAs, APs and relay nodes may each authenticate acontent source, for example, in a multimedia broadcast or multicastsystem. The path to a recipient from a destination may be verified,encrypted or signed. A data unit may include fields which may be signedor encrypted by APs, STAs and/or relay nodes. AP, STA or relay node mayhave a public/private key pair associated with it's MAC address or AID.In an embodiment, for example, some frames may be used for sourceverification, while other frames are forwarded based on the sourceverified frames. Verified frames may be periodic or aperiodic with dataframes interspersed between. Verified frames may occupy a larger orsmaller frequency band than the data frames.

In some embodiments, symmetric keys may be created and exchanged betweeneach node, for example, before a message is passed or the keys may beincluded with each message data, for example, a data unit. In someembodiments, a source and destination may or may not know the path toeach other and thus a path may be determined by relating broadcast orother message types. In response, once the destination receives thebroadcast, the destination may response using a path developed andreceived via the broadcast forwarded messages. The destination mayrespond to the source and provide a public key or other key. Eachbroadcast message may be a discovery type message which carriesinformation useful for determining a shortest path routing. For example,each broadcast may include a timestamp, number of prior relaying nodes,RSSI or the like.

Each relay node may uses public and/or private keys used to generate asymmetric key. A source and destination may exchange signatures based ontheir association ID, MAC address(es), and the known or unknown relaynodes inbetween, for example, discovered via path selection or discoverymessages.

When routing information is forwarded to a relay node, the relay nodemay generate a symmetric key for the source and destination based on ahash of the public keys of each and a local secret of the relay node. Inthis way, each node may be identified upon receiving the message. Therelay node may generates an encryption key and a signature. The relaynode may append the encryption key and/or signature to the data unitwhich may then be broadcast or forwarded to a next relay or todestination. When each relay node appends an encryption key and/orsignature to a data unit, the relay node may increment (or decrement) acounter of the data unit such that a subsequent receiver may know howmany keys are embedded in the data unit. Each data unit may includeunencrypted public keys of the sender and recipient in each transmissionfrom sender to recipient. Public keys of the relay nodes may also beincluded. Other options include sequence numbers, timestamps, IPaddresses or the like.

Ranging parameters and ranging types may be supported by a number ofantennas available to dedicate to ranging and/or a UEs software rangingalgorithms. In embodiments, mobile devices and transmitters may performabsolute time-of-arrival (TOA), time-different-of-arrival (TDOA),time-of-flight (TOF), angle-of-arrival (AOA), and received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) based ranging procedures. Devices disclosedherein may use each one of these methods alone or in combination (hybridapproach) to determine a range, position or location. A positioningreference signal may be transmitted by UAVs, BSs, UEs etc. Device(s) maycollect ranging parameters and pass some or all of the parameters to aMEC device for processing. For example, a device may receive RSSI andone or more AOA measurements from one device and receive RSSImeasurements only from other devices. This may lower the complexity ofthe required other devices to form a location. Alternatively, or incombination, one of TOA, TDOA, TOF, AOA and RSSI may be used to estimaterange from one device having capabilities to do so, while another methodis used repeatedly to estimate range from another device havingacceptable capabilities. Capability information may be determined viabeacon messages or via request/response. Devices may or may not need tobe associated to perform ranging. For example, devices may use superresolution, interference cancellation based on capability. In anembodiment, super resolution and interference cancellation may bealternated to perfect range. A UE may negotiate a number of number ofslots per positioning estimate, which may vary based on UE power level,UE capability or the like. A number of sites used for positioning maydepend on an accuracy level of one or more positioning measurementstaken from one or more sites. For example, the number of sites mayincrease as the accuracy drops.

In an embodiment, a UE may not participate in ranging or positioningwhen a bandwidth is below a certain threshold. If positioning isrequired of the UE, the UE may switch to a larger bandwidth. Thus, whenpositioning is desired, the UE may active one or more cells and/orswitch to cells of higher bandwidths. When vertical only positioning isrequired, the UE may perform positioning in the smaller bandwidth, butif vertical and horizontal positioning is required, the larger bandwidthmay be required.

A UE or STA may signal a request for a UE having an antenna placement orconfiguration and may receive the requested configuration arrangement inresponse. The request/response may occur before or after association.This information may be used for ranging and triangulation and it may bein accordance with a capability of one or both of the STAs. For example,in the request for antenna placement, a STA may indicate a capability toperform secure ranging. For example, a capability to support acryptographic routine (key generation, key passing, cryptographic keyingof data, confirmation of such, or the like). Capability information mayinclude the responding STA capable of selecting a format for indicatingthe antenna placement. In an embodiment, a Reduced Neighbor Reportelement may indicate triangulation information or length information foruse in ranging. For example, the neighbor report may include angle ofdeparture, angle of arrival, timing, distance, phase change informationor the like. The neighbor report may indicate whether an AP or STAsupports Semi Orthogonal Multiple Access (SOMA). A STA capability mayinclude NOMA, SOMA or legacy FDMA type capabilities. An AP or STA maydecide based on a signal to noise ration as to whether to implementNOMA, SOMA or legacy FDMA. APs may be configured to participate in ajoint transmission, coordinated transmission for example coordinatedmultiple access or OFDMA etc.

An AP may determine whether to enable SOMA based on a number of STAswhich are capable of supporting SOMA. The determination may also bebased on a priority of the downlink data to each STA of the number ofSTAs.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary method for resource allocation 1300. Inan embodiment, a priority may be determined 1302 based on one or moredownlink packets or data streams. A priority may include or relate tobackground, spare, best effort, excellent effort, controlled load,video, voice and network control. A number of STAs for receiving thedata packets or streams may be determined 1304. A CQI of each STA of thenumber of STAs for each resource unit of the AP may be determined 1306.Available RUs may be segmented 1308 based on packet priority of datapackets per receiving STA. Power may be determined and allocated 1310 tothe best CQI and worst CQI Rus in accordance with a low power allocationto best CQI and high power allocation to worst RUs. RUs may be allocated1312 up to a threshold, as a percentage of priority, per STA to ensurethat no STA is starved of resources.

SOMA or other access schemes may emply HARQ. Using HARQ, when a receiverincorrectly decoded a data unit, for example an MPDU, the receiver maytransmit an ACK frame to the transmitter so as to request aretransmission of the one or more MPDUs which were received improperly.The ACK frame may not be MPDU based in some instances. For example, whenFEC do not mirror or line up correctly in size with an MPDU, thereceiver may indicate FEC blocks which should be retransmitted insteadof MPDUs. The transmitter may then transmit only the FEC blocks (withsome header overhead) which the receiver needs. Multiple FEC blocks maybe transmitted in a new MPDU for the receiver to then HARQ combine withold FEC blocks of previously received MPDUs. In another embodiment, theACK may be based on MPDU, i.e. bits may indicate failed MPDUs. However,the transmitter may, instead of retransmitting an entire MPDU, maytransmit only the FEC blocks which correspond to that MPDU.

Embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using circuitry whichmay include one or more of a modulator, laser diode, light emittingdevice (LED), circular buffer, multiplexor, first in first out buffer,last in last out buffer, last in first out buffer, strings, memory,state machines, Multiplexer/ALU, priority queue, microprocessor,registers, microcode, threaded pipeline, bus, field programmable gatearray (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), basebandprocessor, video processor or other electronic circuit for that matter.ASICs and FPGAs may be programmed or provided with code wirelessly.Logical calculations may be performed on any parameter or parameters.ANDing, ORing, XORing, or the like may be performed in a logical orBoolean fashion. Circuitry may include interleavers such as LDPC blockinterleavers. Circuitry may be configured to generate a random number asinput or compute a modulus operation. Circuitry may include equalizersfor interference cancellation or other techniques. Equalizers mayinclude spatial temporal linear equalizers including zero-forcing (ZF)and minimum mean square error (MMSE). Circuitry may also includeamplifier(s) such as a power amplifier. Video circuitry may include avideo processing unit (VPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). Adisplay may be coupled to the GPU. Circuitry may include ciphering anddeciphering circuitry. Circuitry may refer to buffer, for example, atime sensitive networking (TSN) buffer which may be supported by a UE orSTA. TSN circuitry may include a time aware shaper. A UE or STA may havea transmitter, receiver or transceiver. Tracking, location or estimatingcircuitry may include magnetometers, accelerometers, velocity sensorsand photodiodes. A UE may include circuitry including a UICC,application software (or firmware on chip), USIM, ISIM etc. A UE may beconfigured with Dual SIM devices.

Some embodiments may rely on alternative backhaul providers which arenot necessarily themselves standardized by 3GPP. For example, cablemodems or fiber optic modems and network may be employed. FIG. 14illustrates a 2-step RACH procedure 1400 which provides information overa DOCSIS type backhaul. The example shows a UE 1402, co-locatedgNB/cable modem (CM) 1404 and cable modem termination system (CMTS)1406.

In the example, a UE 1402 may first transmit a preamble 1408 followed byinformation/data 1416. As soon as the gNB receives the preamble 1402,the gNB may signal to a collocated (or remote) CM to transmit abandwidth report (BWP) 1410 to a CMTS. Before or upon receiving thefollowing information/data, which may comprise other small data and aBSR, the gNB may provide the BSR information 1412 to the CMTS. In thisway, the CMTS can begin to allocate bandwidth regardless of not knowingan amount of bandwidth to allocate. The CMTS may use a default value bydefault and then update that value upon receiving an encapsulated BSRvalue. Other flow control parameters may be used. The CMTS may provide abandwidth allocation map 1414 to the gNB, via the cable modem, eitherbefore or after the gNB transmits Msg2 comprising a random accessresponse, timing advance and the like. Alternatively, the BWP may beprovided to the CMTS with an indication of BSR and thus the BWP may bedelayed until the CM is in receipt of the BSR. The disclosed method mayapply equally for 4-step RACH. Also, the method may apply to contentionbased or non-contention based RACH. In some embodiments, the gNB and CMmay be collocated. In some embodiment, the gNB and CM may be separatedby an access link.

Bandwidth report (BWR) messages may be transmitted by the CM at anypoint herein, subsequent to message(s) received by a receiver disclosedherein. For example, messages received by an 802.11 type receiver mayprovide BWR messages to cable networks. In an embodiment, the CM may becollocated with an 802.11 type radio transmitter or a radio of anothertechnology. The 802.11 radio or other radio may be instantiatedvirtually upon receiving the preamble or other data, for example, the UEID. In this way, CMs may perform certain additional functions for UEs,which may be for example, subscribers of the backhaul network or may besubscribers/owners of the CM. The backhaul network may supply enhancedinter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) parameters, for examplebitmaps signaling transmission/no transmission, to control transmissionsmade by the collocated CM, the collocated gNB or the like. STAs and TRPsmay coordinate null transmissions. BWR messages may be provided to thecable network via mobile edge nodes, for example, mobile edge platformsor mobile edge servers.

BWR messages may indicate a bandwidth range, for example, based on a UEcapability or requested data service (surgical service, video service(glasses), etc). In an embodiment, a range may be specified for virtualreality or augmented reality applications. Bandwidth may be specified inuplink and/or downlink ranges. The BWR may specify whether rendering isperformed locally, in the cloud or via a MEC application. BWR mayindicate QoS or QoE. BWR messages may be provided upon a virtual machinebeing instantiated, for example, when a CU is instantiated.

BWR messages may be transmitted when intercell interference exceeds orgoes below a threshold. BWR messages may be transmitted based onfronthaul or backhaul link condition(s), for example, link quality orthroughput exceeds or goes below a threshold. Interference may bemeasured by determining packet or frame collisions. For example, whenpackets collide over the wireless network, APs and STAs may determine tocreate records so as to determine to transmit or defer transmission whenin a location or proximity to a colliding AP or STA.

A UE may report results of the radio based measurements to a basestation of a same or differing technology with which it took themeasurements from. Measurements and measurement reports may be based onquality of a frequency, quality of a time or quality of a beam or beams.The UE may be configured to report periodic measurement reports based onthe type of base station, type of technology used, amount of frequencyused or based on a beam or beams. Reporting may be group based and inthis case, a signal may be broadcasted or multicasted. The report may besent on a set of preferred beams.

Networks herein may be software defined networks, for example, whichimplement application, control, and data planes. Enforcement of finegrained or gross grained policies may be performed by a device overmultiple operator networks and multiple RATs using forwarding devicesand control devices. Devices may determine, via control messaging,whether to endorse fine grain policies or course grain networkmanagement policies. Policies may be gross in terms of the messagingprovides. For example, a subset of messaging policy messages may applyfor a gross management system. A finer set of messages may be activatedduring fine policy control. A network may determine fine vs. gross basedon number of users, signal strength, delay in the core network, delay ofother networks, timeouts on packets or switches etc.

A network device, for example, a configuration server may configureforwarding or other device flow tables. Flow tables may be packet orframe based and may include routing information for control andapplication signaling. Flow tables may be multiple-RAT based, forexample, based on the configured or capable RATs of a device. A UE whichis 802.11 EHT capable may be configured with tables per link or per basestation. UEs or other devices which are configured for LTE and/or NR mayhave cellular flow based tables, for example, based on cell, frequencybeam or the like.

RATs may be domain specific, for example, relating to a service providerdomain and not simply user specific. This may be true regardless oftechnology. Handover between the RATs may be performed on a domainbasis. Sampling of processing delay and propogation delay calculationmay be performed by any node herein, for example, a router, TRP (gNB, APetc), or the like. Delay values may be reported to a central controlleror other node. For example, TRP->reporting of delays may be performed.Latenc(ies) or average packet delay may be calculated at each node forreporting. Latencies may be calculated per node, per link, per cell, pergroup of users, per location of users, or the like.

Routing tables may be implemented at the UE per link, per cell, per RATetc. Routing tables may be dynamically modified by the UE based on RSSIor other signal indicator and also provided by a controller. Rules maybe modified based on messages received from the controller or node.

Routing tables may be maintained at nodes. Tables may be updated basedon altered flows due to change of channel conditions and also based oninstructions received from other nodes and control equipment. Tables maybe updated node->node as well. A central controller may or may not beneeded if a distributed approach is selected. For small networks, acentral controller may be instantiated once users in a group, cell,domain etc exceed a given size. A central controller may be torn downonce the size becomes smaller than a threshold.

An Access Traffic Steering, Switching, and Splitting (ATSSS) user planefunction (UPF) may translate access network specific addresses of each802.11be link into an address of a Multi-Access (MA) IP address and viceversa. Access traffic steering may include selecting a link of an AP fora new data flow and the transfer of the traffic of that data flow overthe link. Access traffic switching may include migration of all packetsof an ongoing data flow from one link of one AP to another link of theAP or to another access network. Access traffic splitting may includeforwarding packets of a data flow across multiple access networks and/ormultiple links of a single access network simultaneously.

FIG. 15 shows that ATSSS rules from the network 1500 may be configuredto a UE 1502 and ATSSS UPF 1514. The rules may indicate informationenabling the UE to select from a 3GPP access network 1504 and a links ofa first non 3GPP AP 1506-1510 or another non 3GPP AP 1512. Theinformation may indicate that the UE should instantiate new links of an802.11be or greater compatible STA/AP pair or to instantiate a newnon-3GPP connection.

FIG. 16 shows that ATSSS rules from the network 1600 may be configuredto a UE 1602 and MPTCP proxy 1614. The rules may indicate informationenabling the UE to select from a 3GPP access network 1604 and a links ofa first non 3GPP AP 1606-1610 or another non 3GPP AP 1612. Theinformation may indicate that the UE should instantiate new links of an802.11be or greater compatible STA/AP pair or to instantiate a newnon-3GPP connection.

Techniques to provide ATSSS are classified by the 3GPP into two flavors:(1) higher-layer techniques which operate above the IP layer (e.g.,MPTCP), and (2) lower-layer techniques which operate below the IP layer.(for example, PHY/MAC commands disclosed herein or otherwise).

The 5G control plane provides the UE and the ATSSS UPF with rules thatspecify which flows are eligible to the ATSSS service (i.e., by mappingthem to a Multi-Access PDU Session). Once a Multi-Access PDU Session hasbeen established, a set of rules are then delivered to both the UE andthe ATSSS UPF in order to enable consistent treatment of the flows byboth the UE and the ATSSS UPF within the Session.

Measurements may be made by the UE to the user plane function via roundtrip time (RTT) measurement taking. For example, by transmitted amessage on the non-3gpp access and measuring a time for which a responseis made. In the case of 802.11be, when there are multiple links from asame AP, over a same distribution network, it may not be imperative toperform RTT over each link individually. Instead, a single link could beused for RTT and individual link PHY/MAC measurements may be used as anoffset to adapt the end to end RTT.

An AP may provide RTT information, to a UE, over one or more links. Forexample, the AP may determine the RTT information via timing of packettransmission/reception (for example, ACK reception). In anotherembodiment, the UE may perform the RTT timing and provide same to the APor other server or function in the network. The RTT information may alsobe shared among non co-located APs, from AP to AP, since the APs may beassociated to a same distribution network.

Servers may specify configurations for UEs and APs to performmeasurement checking. For example, measurement configurations mayindicate servers and/or server addresses and other network parameters touse, a band or frequency, an AP identifier, Device to deviceinformation, resource pool information to perform thetransmissions/receptions on, link information, IP address, MAC addressor the like.

Certain links may better support UDP traffic vs TCP or vice versa. TheUE or AP may report characteristic information, an may receive aprotocol to link mapping as an access rule or configuration. A mobileedge computing device or platform may assist in providing/selectingaccess rules. The MEC may provide any parameter disclosed herein to theUE, proxy, user plane function or the like.

Packet order reconstruction may be based on IP address and/or IP addressand MAC address pairs. For example, a MAC address may uniquely identifya link and thus may be provided up the stack correctly without firstperforming IP packet inspection.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a wireless device having aplurality of media access control (MAC) addresses, the methodcomprising: receiving a first group based transmission, on an operatingband of a first access point (AP), wherein the first group basedtransmission has a preamble portion which indicates a modulation schemeused for a portion subsequent to the preamble portion, wherein the firstgroup based transmission has a first data portion, wherein the firstgroup based transmission includes a first header portion; receiving asecond group based transmission, on an operating band of a second AP,wherein the second group based transmission has a second data portion,wherein the second data portion is modulated according to quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM), wherein the second group based transmissionincludes a second header portion; and determining whether the firstgroup based transmission comprises data which is duplicative of thesecond group based transmission; wherein the first group basedtransmission is received via a first link established with anotherwireless device and the second group based transmission is received viaa second link associated with the another wireless device, wherein thefirst link and the second link are different.